The Haunted Theater
by MotherHeninFlorida
Summary: Episode 5 in my version of what happens in the lives and crime lab of our team post season 9. See my profile for story order and links to each one. In this episode our team investigates a suicide that closely mimics one that had happened decades earlier; but is it really a suicide, or is it murder? As always, standard disclaimers apply.
1. Chapter 1

_**Author's Note**_ _: Welcome to Episode 5. As always reviews are most welcome! For this story I've incorporated an actual famous - and haunted - location in New York City; however, I've changed the names to protect the innocent ... and not so innocent. I don't want to step on any toes as far as facts and copyrights. After all, I don't own any of it._

 _You don't absolutely have to have read the previous episodes to be able to read this one but a few of the story arcs and subplots may initially be confusing. If you haven't read the previous stories they are as follows:_

 _Episode 1: Missing Heart (story complete)_

 _Episode 2: Rules of Engagement (story complete)_

 _Episode 3: Buried Above Ground (story complete)_

 _Episode 4: Bridget Over Troubled Waters (story in progress, crossover with CSI: Vegas, coauthored with and being posted by CSIFanRider)_

 _Episode 5: The Haunted Hotel (in progress)_

 _Links for the above episodes can be found in my profile, so feel free to click away. Also, I'd like to once again mention that smuffly, CSIFanRider, and I have pulled together some of the best stories here at Fan Fiction that have Adam Ross as a main character. There's over sixty of them at last count. The link for that community can also be found under my profile._

 _Last bit of explanation before getting out of your way so you can start reading is this, all of the stories that I write use actual series canon as their basis where at all possible. This includes character behavior, ages, personal back stories, relationships as they stood at the end of season 9, etc. However, if you see that I've blundered and have missed or messed up please feel free to call me on it in a PM. When in doubt I try and go back and watch the actual series episode of use resources like CSI Wiki or the actors' reading of their character's motivations. I'm not averse however to someone fact checking what I write. So yeah, let me know if something is out of kilter._

And without further ado ... _The Haunted Hotel_

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

The man, woman, and child sat in the cabin of the business class jet and just stared around. The man said, "Whoa, this is … just … wow."

The small woman, his companion, agreed with a silent nod while she busied herself adjusting the nervous child's seatbelt so that it fit snuggly but was still comfortable. An attendant … the woman wasn't sure if they were really still called a stewardess on such a small plane … came over to help. "Mr. Webber said to make sure you had everything you needed," the young woman said with a genuine smile. "After we get airborne there are some S-N-A-C-K-S that might be nice. We'll serve a meal once we get to cruising altitude and the seatbelt sign is off."

Adam nodded at the attendant and said, "Thanks." After she left to do whatever her other duties were Adam looked at his significant other and asked, "You sure Christine said she'd be able to meet us at the airport? It is going to be cold when we land, maybe even some snow on the ground by morning. I hate to bother her but …"

Emi nodded. "I told her the same thing but she just told me to hush, that it wasn't a bother and to stop fussing about it She said her staff could manage one afternoon without her ... or that she needed new staff." Emi rolled her eyes a little remembering Christine's tone when she'd said it. "She got the house key from Lindsey since she had to be in court or I would have asked her instead. When Christine got over to the house she said Mrs. Morrisey helped to find the boxes that I told her about. They didn't even have to dig them out. I'm just glad that we finally finished painting the room."

Adam was glad as well but more because he knew how the blood stains on the floors and walls had always bothered Emi, bringing back terrible memories that she fought to deal with. He quickly sought to change the subject. "I still can't believe that you kept all of the stuff that belonged to your little brother. I mean that's a good thing," he said not wanting her to think he was criticizing. "But are you sure you want to do that? I thought you said you were going to pack their stuff away in that cedar chest your father made because it still upset you too much to give them away."

Emi shrugged trying to appear nonchalant when that's really the last thing she felt. "Ma made most of Marty and Mary's clothes. I told you she was a part time seamstress to bring in a little extra money when she could. I don't know why the idea of giving them to Charlie doesn't bother me, it just doesn't. Ma didn't use cheap fabric so everything has held up. I have already gotten rid of the things that couldn't be saved.\, I just don't want you to think I'm being cheap for the sake of being cheap and I hope I didn't misjudge the sizes. I'm pretty sure Marty's last winter coat will fit Charlie but it might be a little big on him."

The little boy in question sighed and shrugged. "I'm a shrimp. Daddy says …"

Both Adam and Emi fought not saying something derogatory about "Daddy" and instead Adam said, "Don't worry about it Kiddo. Some of the men in our family are just late bloomers. Your father and grandfather weren't but Uncle Brian and I were. Everyone is different."

Emi added, "Hmph, from where I'm sitting you're no shrimp."

Charlie looked over and then bashfully looked down but both Adam and Emi could see he was trying to hide a grin. Emi's own size fell well below the fiftieth percentile, and always had since birth so she sympathized with people who experienced the "short" side of life.

Little Charlie looked up at Adam with those gorgeous blue eyes of his and asked, "Uncle Da, is there really going to be snow in York City?"

Emi could see Adam melting and from any other child she probably would have wondered if the little dickens wasn't trying to intentionally pull his heart strings but experience had proven that Charlie was simply what he was … a sensitive child still dealing with the amazement of finding himself loved and wanted.

While she watched Adam answer the little boy's question … and the endless stream that seemed to follow that one … Emi remembered when Charlie had started calling Adam "Uncle Da." She and the little boy had been discussing what a family was, how they didn't always look like what was on tv or in story books, but that they were still very much a family. Emi had given Charlie some examples from her own background – without the complicating factor of what had happened to her own childhood when she was twelve years old – and paid special attention to her father whom she called "Da" as was traditional in her half Irish family. In particular, she explained that her Da had taken care of her and helped her when she felt scared or confused about what was going on, how he made sure she had food in her belly and a roof over her head, and numerous other things. Charlie had never been treated very well by his own father but had been nearly terrified at the idea of being separated from him and being put under Adam's guardianship.

That night Adam had returned from the tech conference where they'd been at in Las Vegas and had brought the boy cheese crackers and vegetable soup, Charlie's two favorite foods, hoping to coax him into eating. It was in that moment that something clicked for Charlie. After a moment of simply looking at Adam like a curious baby bird, you could practically see the wheels turning in his head, the boy had practically flown off the bed and attached himself to Adam's leg and said, "Uncle Da! Uncle Da! You're here! And you brought me soup!"

Emi had made a bee line for the bathroom and it had taken a while for her to get herself under control enough that she could come out and act like nothing was unusual. It wasn't until after Charlie had finally fallen into an exhausted slumber that Emi was able to explain things to Adam. They'd turned the lights off so that Charlie would stay asleep and they could cuddle a bit in one of the hotel chairs. They were looking out of the window at the lights of the Las Vegas strip as it was spread out below and Emi felt a wet drop hit her hand and then another, and they hadn't been from her. Adam vowed that he couldn't leave the boy, that there had to be some way that child protective services would let them bring him home to NYC with them.

It was then that Emi had called in a couple of favors. In the past she'd done some work for a few wealthy families, some of them were even powerful families. And one in particular had connections to Vegas and, if rumors were true, meddled politically for their own advantage. Granted the jobs had often been at the behest of her federal contractors but she'd still made her own friends – or at least contacts – along the way. She hadn't told Adam she was doing this until after she was sure it was going to work. She knew it was a huge risk for their relationship and for a moment she was sure she had gone too far. Instead Adam had taken her into a nearly bruising hug and emotionally whispered into her ear where only she could hear, "Thank you." He'd said nothing more about it, much to Emi's relief.

And now here they were flying home in Marcus Webber's private corporate jet … an offer he'd made after finding out they were having a difficult time finding a return flight for all three of them due to the holidays fast approaching. Marcus had opted to stay in Vegas for at least a few more days but the flight had already been scheduled and he said it would make more sense for Adam to fly in his place since the plane was also loaded with the equipment that Adam would be taking to the NYC crime lab to test in real life criminal investigation cases. Personally Emi thought that Marcus was more comfortable finding some way to repay Adam for his help since Adam had refused to accept any financial reimbursement for beta testing the equipment; and, decided for once not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

The one fly in the ointment that had come up was when they had been given Charlie's possessions. The sum total was in a back pack that was smaller than the shoe box that held Adam's newest pair of running shoes and was barely half full. Most people took more to the beach than all the items in this world that Charlie was able to call his own. What few clothes he had would be completely unsuitable for winter in New York. While Adam wound up the last of the case he was working on, Emi had done her best to find a few things that would at least keep him from freezing before they could get back to their home where she knew she would be able to outfit him better.

The stewardess came back around and said they were about to taxi onto the runway so Adam and Emi sat down and buckled up.

"Uncle Da?" Charlie's eyes were wide opened and scared.

"Hey, it's ok. I'm right here Little Man," Adam told him.

At take-off Charlie didn't hyperventilate but he did get shaky and a few tears leaked out of his eyes. Afterwards the boy became silent and nearly withdrawn before whispering, "I didn't mean to cry. Please don't be sorry."

It took both Adam and Emi a moment to understand he meant for them not to be sorry that they were bringing him home with them. Adam tried to ham and up and say, "Sorry? Are you kidding? Absolutely no way. I got you now, you just try and get away. Bwahahahahaha." Then he tickled Charlie and the little boy forgot about his fears and giggled though Emi suspected that she and Adam had their work cut out for them in building Charlie's self-esteem.

The flight itself was uneventful but long enough that both Charlie and Emi dozed. The stewardess came out to see if they needed anything but returned quietly to the small galley after catching Adam looking at both Charlie and Emi with something akin to wonder and protectiveness.

For his part Adam couldn't quite seem to believe how much his life had changed over the last year. He'd thought his life was over and was almost glad to be done with it. Now he didn't think he'd ever want it to be over even with all of the strange bumps and turns nearly every day seemed to bring. He didn't want to think about what might happen in the future when his brother got out of prison, that he might have to fight to keep Charlie, but he knew they would eventually have to come up with some plan to address the possibilities; not for their own sake but because they needed to protect Charlie. Adam had been serious; when he made the commitment to raise his nephew he didn't intend on only giving it a half measure or keeping the boy at arm's length.

As he looked over Adam saw a single tear slide down Emi's face. He reached over and gently brushed it away and then sat back, careful not to wake her. Regardless of how much better she was feeling – and thank God for that – she was still recovering her strength from her most recent ordeal. The bruises had almost completely faded but he knew she still had nightmares, though not as numerous as she'd had at first. But he didn't think this time that is what the tear was about. From the look on her face she was once again dreaming of her daughter, of Reni.

In her dreams Emi watched Reni doing the things that she'd been unable to do in life. She ran around in a field of flowers that never faded or wilted. She laughed and played with other children, her body no longer bent and twisted, her eyes no longer hampered by thick glasses, long hair bouncing as she ran, and her laughter light and happy and unhampered by the aches and pains her body suffered from, her mind no longer hampered by the limitations she'd been born with. "Mommy! Look at me! Look at me! Look what I can do now!"

"I'm watching Reni! I'm watching!" Emi called back.

This dream was a little different from all of the others where all Emi got to do was laugh and clap from the sidelines. For the first time Reni came almost close enough for Emi to touch. In her surprise she failed to see the little boy that Reni was pulling along with her. "Mommy, he needs you now. Take care of him."

"I …"

"Gotta go. Bye!"

Emi went to grab Reni but she was already running back into the flowers and Emi knew she couldn't follow her there, not to that special and sacred place. She'd tried many times but she'd finally learned that all she could do was watch and she learned to be content, if not fully satisfied, with that. But then she felt a tug on her hand and looked down. The little boy that Reni had brought her was Charlie, but a Charlie with all of that ridiculous hair dye all grown out. The last thing she remembered from her dream was bending down and picking him up so that he could watch Reni running and laughing as well.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Mr. Ross? We'll be landing in just a moment."

Adam nodded and looked over at Emi who was finally completely awake. He noticed her pallor and asked, "Hey, you ok? You're … a little pale."

Emi cleared her throat and simply mumbled, "Dreams."

Adam was a little concerned but didn't push. Emi didn't like to talk about her dreams. She claimed they were basically what she called "brain doodles" and akin to the early sketches she made when she first started working on a project. She didn't like people seeing those often primitive and sometimes incorrect drawings for personal reasons, and the same was true of her dreams.

Emi noticing Adam's look told him, "I'm fine just … stuff coming to the surface." She inadvertently glanced surreptitiously at Charlie who was still sleeping and Adam caught her; his concern turned to worry. She sighed and shook her head. "It isn't what you're thinking. I'm just … I'm just worried that …" Emi leaned her head back and briefly closed her eyes trying to will the words to come out so she could explain things. "Adam, Charlie … he needs the best we can give him. What if … what if my best isn't enough? What if someone comes along and says that you're doing ok but I'm the problem and it jeopardizes your guardianship? What if my issues cause a problem? What if my past …?"

"Hey … hey don't Babe."

"I can't fail you Adam but what if I do?"

"What do you mean fail me?"

"You need me to be the absolute best me that I can be. This isn't just the two of us anymore. We have Charlie to think of and I can't keep … keep … I can't keep screwing up Adam. I look back and realize how … how out of practice I got at being normal, not that I've ever been that but I used to be able to fake it better than I have lately. I learned to deal with things for Reni's sake but I've been letting that slide, counting on you to fix things for me way too much, to filter the world for me and filter me for the world. You and Charlie both need me to do better, not get into so many scrapes. And I need to … I have to absolutely … find some kind of way to make my hands work so that I can do something besides sit around feeling sorry for myself, so that I can help support us. I'm getting out of practice with that too. I've basically been letting you shoulder all of it. I'm worried that I'm failing even before I've had a chance to try … and I can't just try, I have to do."

Adam reached over and gently tugged a curl that had daringly escaped Emi's ruthless hair braid. "Babe … yeah, I'm scared too. At least you have your parents and what they taught you to fall back on. I feel like the only lessons I learned growing up is how not to be a parent. My mom tried, only as an adult I look back and see she only tried up to a point; she had too many issues of her own to protect us from Dad's issues. I don't want to repeat any of that crap. I want to start fresh. New. But I know some of it I'm always going to carry around … like the scars, there's just no getting rid of them."

Emi understood and reminded him, "Your brother never went that far. We'd see it. Charlie doesn't flinch or anything like that."

"No, thank God. I talked to him … to m' brother. I think he knew. Deep down he knew what he was doing, what he was capable of, and how wrong it is. I think maybe some of that is why he sent Dad to me. He just got it all screwed up when he was telling little Charlie why Dad would always come unglued when he was around. The kid can't help that he looks like me and Uncle Brian. That's probably why my brother dyed his hair. The less Little Charlie looked like me, the less … the less …"

Emi, not nearly as soft-hearted as Adam tended to be muttered, "Psychobabble is no excuse for what that man did … either one of them … to you and Little Charlie. You're no longer a victim and we're not going to let Charlie have to grow up like you did either. I'm not worried about that at all. But I can't screw the poor kid up with my issues either. God Adam … I can't fail you, either one of you. You … you need me. Right? You do need me to help with this?"

"Yes I do," Adam said quietly but fervently. "But this isn't the only reason why I need you." After a moment Adam asked, "You … you sure that you aren't upset that … that the plans I had … that …"

This time it was Emi's turn to comfort Adam. He'd had plans all right but between one thing and another they'd had to put it all on hold. "Adam, just that you thought about it is enough for me. OK? After we figure everything out with Charlie maybe we'll get back around to the rest of it." But with a little grimaced Emi said, "But in the meantime we're going to need to be more … er … circumspect. No more wild and … uh …"

Adam's eyes grew wide and then he made his own grimace. He wouldn't regret taking guardianship of his nephew but some things apparently were going to have to be adjusted that he had yet to think about.

The plane landed and after going through the security check they entered by way of one of the smaller gates. The cold wind had nearly stolen Charlie's breath despite being carried and wrapped in Adam's coat. The inside of the airport was warmer, but only because of all of the bodies going this way and that. Adam handed Charlie off to Emi while he wrangled their luggage and it wasn't until he was clapped on the shoulder that he looked up.

"Mac?!"

Mac smiled and asked, "Missing the warm weather yet?"

"Ugh. Kinda crazy. I've got to get over and take charge of Webber's equipment and …"

"Actually Marcus Webber called the lab and I've got people here picking it up from cargo. Christine wound up having an emergency at the restaurant – one of the apprentice chefs dropped a pan of hot grease and several people in the kitchen had to go to the ER with splatters. I've got some of the things she pulled out of the boxes and … ?"

Emi gratefully took the bag from Mac and headed straight to the family bathroom and luckily didn't have to wait in line. She had underestimated just how much the cold would affect Charlie and the little boy was shivering even in Adam's coat.

Mac and Adam followed them with their eyes and then Mac said, "You sure about this Adam? Fatherhood? Even if it is temporary?"

Adam nodded. "I'm sure Mac. And it isn't just about the more obvious stuff it could be about. Mostly it's Charlie. The kid is really cool … a hell of a lot cooler than I was at that age. And if Emi and I hadn't taken him there's no telling what could have happened to him in the system."

"And your brother?"

"Doesn't have a damn thing to say in the matter," responded Adam with more than a little acid in his voice.

"That's not exactly what I meant."

Chagrined for letting his temper show Adam stammered, "Oh. Uh … yeah … my brother took the plea bargain so there won't be a trial. And he'll go to federal prison rather than the state pen. He got ten years but …" Adam shrugged. "His lawyer thinks with good behavior he could serve half that if not less. In the meantime, Emi and I figure out how to keep Charlie regardless of when he gets out."

Rather than state the obvious Mac asked, "Have you talked to a lawyer?"

"We have an appointment with one of the men in the law practice that Emi uses. There might not be a problem. Thanks to some help from the lead investigator out in Vegas, I have a copy of a voice recording where my brother said he didn't want Charlie and that we could have him for a price. But he could come back and deny it, saying he was under duress. You know how it goes. We just need to prove at this point we can provide a better and more stable home than my brother can."

"Let me know if I can help."

Adam looked at Mac, trying not to be surprised by the offer but part of him was. Nevertheless he was still grateful. "Thanks Mac."

That's when both men heard a giggle and turned to find Emi carrying what appeared to be a small bear cub.

"Look at me Uncle Da! I'm a bear and I'm warm! Grrrrr!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Mac schooled his features to hide his shock but Emi still saw it. As they both watched Adam get down on Charlie's level and admire his new-to-him togs Emi said, "I know. They look so much alike."

"Christine had mentioned it after you sent that picture to her but … dear god, I hadn't realized just how much alike."

That's when Charlie finally registered the strange man standing there staring down at him and hid behind Adam. Neither man knew what to do so that the little boy wouldn't be scared but taking a page out of her Da's playbook she bent down to his level and said, "This is Mr. Mac. Remember what I told you about your uncle?" The little boy thought for a moment then realized Emi was talking about how his Uncle Da took care of him. He nodded carefully. Like she was imparting a delicious secret she whispered in his ear, "Mr. Mac does that sort of thing for your uncle. It's just a little different because your uncle was already all grown up when he went to work for Mr. Mac."

Emi put her finger to her lips to let him know it was a secret. Charlie's eyes were wide with wonder. First he looked at his Uncle Da. Then he looked at the man called Mr. Mac. Then back to his uncle, then back to Mr. Mac. Slowly, very slowly, a grin bloomed on the boy's face. Bashfully he said, "Hi Mr. Mac."

"How do you do? Are you warm now?"

That question confirmed in Charlie's mind that the man in front of him was a taker-care-of'er like his Uncle Da. Charlie nodded but stuck close to Adam shyly.

Mac didn't want to scare the boy more so he just smiled and turned his attention back to Adam and Emi while Adam held the little boy's hand protectively so he wouldn't be jostled around by the crowd of flowing people. Mac told him, "The equipment is going straight into a van and then to the lab. I can either take you home or if you aren't too tired we can stop by the lab first and then I can take you home from there."

Adam nodded thoughtfully. "The lab I think. Babe?"

"Do what you need to do. Charlie and I can sit in the waiting area. I know you need to let Marcus know that the equipment made it safe and sound."

Adam sighed in relief. "I'll be as quick as I can I just need to get that stuff locked up." Turning back to Mac he said, "I told Marcus I would be personally responsible Boss. Until I can get it set up …"

Mac understood. "We'll install the equipment in the space where the old servers were located prior to the upgrade. The room has a bolt on it. I'll have a key and you'll have a key and then security will have one."

Adam relaxed. "That'll be perfect. There is already venting in there to take off any excess heat that is generated and there's ports so I can run the requisite wiring."

They continued verbally planning for the equipment while they made their way through the busy airport to Mac's car. As Mac was opening the doors he cleared his throat and said, "Don reminded me that Charlie needs to be in a booster seat. He grabbed one from the precinct for me but …"

Adam started to make a note but Emi said, "I … I still have Reni's."

When both men just sort of looked at the booster seat, not quite sure how to install it, Emi smiled and matter of factly ran the seatbelt through the proper places and then had Charlie climb up while she adjusted the belt to fit correctly. Mac looked at Adam and muttered, "Glad she knows what she's doing. I've had less trouble with a new shoulder holster."

Adam grinned and said, "Does kinda look like a Chinese puzzle. Why the heck do they make those things so confusing?"

Emi made both men playfully wince as if she'd scored a hit when she said, "Because _a child_ might figure how to get out of one if they weren't as complicated as they are."

"Ha! See if I fix the tv next time you can't get the DVD player to work," Adam teased.

Emi muttered, "See if I fix you any cookies smarty britches."

All three adults laughed but Charlie wondered at it. The words had been cranky but they were laughing. Emi noticed his confusion as Adam helped her into the back seat. She asked, "You ready?"

A little unsure Charlie nodded though there was no confidence to it. "I tell you what," Emi said. "While your Uncle Adam takes care of things I think I have enough battery left on my tablet that you can play on the Reader Rabbit app."

That immediately distracted Charlie. "I … I can?" he asked hopefully.

"Sure."

They were half way to the lab when a call came in on Mac's phone … and on Adam's. Adam looked at his in confusion. "Boss?"

Almost in disgust Mac responded, "I'm sorry about this. Adam …"

Emi read both men's look of concern. "We can wait in the car. If it turns out to be … messy … I'll grab a cab and head on to the house with the luggage."

There wasn't anything else that could be done at that point but both men were grateful that Emi was flexible as far as their work went. Mac didn't use his siren though he did use his lights to get around traffic. Even with his credentials he had to park almost a block away from the scene because of construction.

Adam turned around to say something but Emi gave a silent shake of her head as she had already started to distract Charlie with the educational apps on her tablet. Mac left her the keys in case it got too cold and she needed to start the engine then both men started walking up to where numerous flashing lights competed with the flashes from cameras from reporters and pedestrians alike.

# # # # # # # # # #

A harried and mildly irritated Don Flack met both men before they even reached the scene. "Ross. Dude. Tell me you're on duty."

"Er … I can be."

"Thank god. I got some crazy guy spouting at me like some Shakespearean tragedy is about to occur. He's coming out of his bean that we're going to mess up his tech that drives the stage special effects. Apparently they just spent a good wad of cash to totally upgrade the system so they could put one of those old timey whodunits … complete with ghosts and blood curdling screams."

Adam briefly looked back at where Mac's vehicle was located then said, "Do me a favor? Can you have one of your guys just kinda keep an eye out? Emi and Charlie … er …" He stopped and then looked at Mac, afraid that he'd overstepped his authority.

But Mac only nodded. "Good idea. Don?"

Flack gave a smile and said, "Not a problem. There's a coffee shop down there, I'll just have 'em go by in shifts while they get something to warm up. It's almost as cold inside the theater as it is out here."

With that Adam felt more confident heading into the old building that was one of the oldest theaters still in operation in NYC. He'd barely gotten beyond the glass doors and into the lobby when he just had to stop and stare. "Holy moly. This place could even compete with Vegas."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"I insist no one touches that equipment," Adam heard a man demand.

In response an irritated Danny Messer said, "I don't care about your insisting, Mr. Theater Manager. That equipment is part of our crime scene and you better move your caboose before I run it over."

Adam quickly headed that way since it sounded like Danny had had all he was going to take. Danny had run interference for him plenty of times – when he wasn't the one doing the irritating – so Adam felt the need to reciprocate. "Yo! Danny!"

Startled, Danny had to blink a couple of times before he trusted his eyes. "Adam … you're in Vegas."

Adam grinned and looked around. "Naw. It's too cold to be Vegas." Turning to the Theater Manager Adam did his best to disarm the harried and worried looking man. "How do you do? I'm Adam Ross. I run the AV portion of the crime lab. I understand you have some very sensitive equipment that you need protected. If you'll lead the way, I'll take a look and secure it for you."

The man looked confused for a moment but a young woman that appeared to be some type of assistant stepped forward, eager to break the stalemate between the two arguing men that were keeping her from completing her long list of must do's to get the theatre ready for opening. "Thank you. Mr. Montague is terribly concerned that the equipment would be inadvertently tampered with during the investigation. It simply must be ready for tomorrow's dress rehearsal. Today's tragedy has already created an unacceptable delay."

Adam got the picture immediately. Neither the theater manager nor his assistant really knew squat about the tech in question and wouldn't know how to reset it if it was messed with. And whoever did was not available at present. "Not a problem. I'm here to relieve Mr. Montague's concerns."

Don Flack caught the last exchange right as the theater people took Adam to the room where the expensive special effects equipment was housed. He looked at Danny and chuckled. "He's getting way too good at BSing people. You been givin' him extra lessons?"

"Ha, ha, ha," Danny said before giving a relieved grin. "So long as he can get it done then more power to him. That little man was just about to get on my last nerve. I was ready to arrest him for interfering with an investigation. That duh-tah-dah was giving me agita." He sighed then asked, "Have they moved the body yet?"

Flack grinned realizing about half of Messer's attitude was because he must have spent the weekend with his Italian relatives. It always took Lindsey about a week to get him to tone down the Brooklynisms that would litter his speech. "Naw. I told 'em to leave it until Mac could get up there and take a look. Pictures just don't do this one justice."

"You ain't kidding and that's a fact."

# # # # # # # # # #

It was a long elevator ride to the top of the architecturally stunning building. From the outside the Beaux-Arts style structure was three windows wide and ten stories tall with the auditorium on the lower floors extending into an attached, much wider space. Statistically the theater's auditorium itself sat 1,700, even after the extensive renovation that occurred in the late 1980s. There were also two additional meeting spaces that could hold anywhere from 75 to 400 people depending on whether it was standing room or dining seating. The upper floors of the tall, narrow part of the building were used as office space. And at the very top was the extant roof top theater.

Mac got off the elevator on the top floor to find a uniformed police officer stationed at another security door. The officer said, "How do you do Detective Taylor? Dr. Hawkes said you were coming up. He and the others are through this door. Just mind your step please. This section wasn't renovated like the rest of the building and it is as dark as the inside of a black cat."

Thanking the officer Mac step through the door and found himself facing a small flight of well-worn, wooden stairs. He went up and then, after opening a wooden door nearly as heavy as the metal one the officer had opened, but obviously much older, Mac looked around in the gloom that was barely relieved by the standing LED lights that had been brought in so that the scene could be photographed.

"Hang on a sec Mac. Lindsey is taking a few more pictures. I'll come to you."

Hawkes carefully made his way over by stepping around all of the dusty theater detritus. Once he reached Mac, no easy task, he said, "Welcome to the Roof Top Garden."

Mac studied the scene cursorily. "Looks … interesting. Any particular reason this space wasn't renovated like the remainder of the building?"

"As I understand it, the cost of bringing this space up to current building use codes would have been exorbitant, so rather than making it habitable they left it as storage space. About all they do was remove the fire hazards and repair the worst of the neglect so that it didn't compromise the rest of renovations."

"Ok, then what was it originally? This looks like no garden I've ever seen."

"Back in the day it wasn't unusual for most of the Broadway theaters to have what they called 'roof top gardens' that were really just small, open-air theaters with very limited seating. Obviously they could only be used during summer. And mostly they were used for private parties. I suppose they'd remind you of what some of the better apartment buildings are doing with their rooftops these days. The Amster however was different; their roof top garden was actually an enclosed mini theater that could be used year round. Very, very exclusive and a technical marvel of its time according to the building's history – there's a coffee table book available for sale down in the gift shop on the history of the theater – and this particular area provided more … er … risqué performances which were held for male clientele. It was a pretty exclusive club that had as its members names that would probably even be known today in some circles. However, it hasn't been in regular use since the early 1930s. The Great Depression destroyed the wealth of many of the club members."

"Is this area even sound?"

"There's no danger to us or the crime scene if that's what you're asking. There has been some obvious repairs but it is hard to see in the dark and even though it's just storage space they tried to make them blend in and look tasteful. Unfortunately, the windows were bricked over decades ago and they were left like that, and the electric and gas connections have been capped off, if not torn out completely, so lighting up here is very limited. Interestingly enough there's evidence that a heavy gauge electric cord was run up here from the floor below using an old heating register as the conduit."

"What about our vic?"

Pulling out his notepad Hawkes was about to recite the vic's statistics when Lindsey Messer called, "I'm finished if you two want to come have a look."

Both men followed the sound of her voice but getting to her proved difficult. Mac took his flashlight and examined the floor. "These boxes and crates were moved recently."

Lindsey replied, "A crew of three men had come up to look for some set pieces. They were the ones that discovered the body. The men got the bejeebers scared out them."

"Why?"

Lindsey snorted in cynical humor. "They thought she was the ghost of Olivia Toms."

"Who?"

Lindsey stepped out of Mac's way so he could get his first look at the vic.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

It isn't that Mac was speechless. There were few things that could make him that way. Not to mention he had seen numerous strange things over the years of his service, first in the Marines and then in law enforcement. However, the vic in front of him certainly deserved more than a casual observation before he spoke.

The vic was female. If he had to hazard a guess he would say that she was somewhere in age between late teens and early twenties. Brunette but the length of the hair was difficult to say from this angle and because her hair was done up in what most women would recognize as ringlets or sausage curls. Perhaps it was a trick of the lighting but her skin was so pale it seemed to glow. Mac asked, "I don't see any obvious signs of trauma."

Hawkes said, "There are none … on the outside of the body." At Mac's arched brow of inquiry Hawkes explained, "Her mouth and throat appear to have some kind of chemical burn. Sid will have to confirm but I would say that initial COD is ingestion of a caustic substance."

"Have you been able to pinpoint TOD?"

"Now that is a problem. You feel how cold it is in here? We can see our breath. Before we set the lights up the temperature was above freezing but not by much. That is definitely going to affect determination of TOD."

"Hazard a guess anyway just to start a possible timeline."

Lindsey said, "According to staff some boxes were brought up here two days ago and the body wasn't here. So … within the last 48 hours."

Mac shrugged. That narrowed it down some. Hopefully Sid would get it a little closer.

"On the way up I was told that we don't have an ID for our Jane Doe. Are we sure she isn't one of the actresses in the current productions?"

Again Lindsey answered. "No one recognizes her … or should I say no one admits to recognizing her. The theater manager kept looking at her, saying she looked familiar but he couldn't place her. It might be the makeup. He was more concerned that she'd used one of the costumes for their production that is opening next week. But when his assistant checked the costume inventory nothing was missing."

"Speaking of costumes, that's certainly an … interesting one she is wearing."

Hawkes was staring at the vic, fascination evident. "An early 1920s era flapper costume, possibly late 1910s. It might even be vintage."

"Hawkes, is there something you aren't telling us?" Danny asked, coming onto the scene.

"I dated this girl that was very into early 20th century historical fashion, in particular what she called the era of the Flapper. You have no idea how many costume parties she dragged me to. Enough that I can tell the difference from a cheap rental and the real thing. If this isn't a true vintage piece, someone went to a lot of expense and trouble to make it look like one. Someone certainly knew real fashion design. Most people think flappers wore those … those short shimmy dresses with the fringe. Actually that didn't come along until later. The early Flapper era fashion was tea length dresses, functional and almost mannish design, the style flattened the bustline rather than accentuated it." He stopped when he noticed everyone was giving him a strange look. He shrugged and finished, "I suspect this costume is real vintage however since it appears that some of the silk of the blouse has shattered. And the make up and hair style is also authentic … rice powder to create a very pale face then mascara and shadow to highlight the eyes, no blush, and then very red 'cupid bow' lipstick."

Danny chuckled. "Man, she must have been one hot date for you to hang around long enough to remember all of that."

Hawkes gave a wicked smile and said, "You have no idea."

Lindsey rolled her eyes at the smell of excessive testosterone on the air and told Mac, "Her make up might mimic that era but I would say it is exaggerated, similar to what an actress would be forced to do so that she would stand out in the black and while photos and film of that era … or on stage."

Mac nodded then motioned that the body could be prepped for moving and Hawkes turned to assist the ME staff while the others stepped back out of their way. Mac said, "You mentioned that the men thought she was a ghost."

"And not just any ghost," Lindsey explained. "But the ghost of Olive Toms."

"Why does that name sound familiar?" asked with a puzzled frown.

Danny took his turn. "She's apparently a famous silent film star but she was also a Ziegfeld girl. This theater was the home for the Ziegfeld Follies for over a decade and that's where Olivia Toms got her start. She died young involving some scandal but I'm getting conflicting stories of whether it was murder, suicide, or accident. Her ghost has been said to haunt the theater ever since."

"Also," Lindsey added. "That the production that the theater manager is so freaked out about delaying is about Olivia Toms' life and death."

Sighing Mac told them, "Wrap it up here and see what else you can find out. I need to get downstairs and collect Adam …"

"Adam is here?" Lindsey asked. "I thought they were having trouble getting a flight home."

"Marcus Webber flew them back to NYC in his jet since it was also carrying that equipment Adam managed to get for us to test. Which is back at the lab and which he needs to take care of. Emi and Adam's nephew are waiting in the Avalanche."

"In this cold?!"

Mac nodded a trifle guiltily.

Danny asked, "Does the kid really look like Adam?"

Mac nodded. "You have no idea."

"Geez it's strange to think of Adam with a kid. How's he holdin' up?"

"From what I've seen quite well. The boy is certainly attached to him. Although that isn't surprising considering Adam can act like a big kid himself."

Lindsey asked, "And Emi?"

"Hard to say. She's in caregiver mode – obviously knows what she is doing as far as physically caring for a child that age – but …"

"But?"

"Christine thinks she's worried but that she hasn't said about what. Let's just give them what support we can and give them some time to work things out. I hadn't planned on Adam coming back to work for a couple of more days to let them settle in but with this case and the equipment …"

Danny, antsy from the cold in the upper reaches of the building appeared almost hyper while he said, "Well he's certainly the eager beaver. Walked right in and dealt with the theater manager and his assistant like a champ. Hopefully he'll find something on the security tapes – they have enough of those damn cameras everywhere. Linds if you want to go down, I'll clean up here."

Grateful to go someplace and warm up, even if it was just temporarily, she accepted Danny's offer and rode the elevator down with Mac. "Mac I'm really sorry that …"

"Don't you start too," he told Lindsey with a wry grin. "Emi does enough apologizing as it is. You were in court and then had to cover that evidence that came in this morning. Christine didn't mind and if it hadn't been for the accident in the restaurant she would have been happy to pick them up. I could have just sent a car for that matter but I wanted to see for myself how Adam was doing."

"So he really seems ok? He called Danny a couple of times. He was incredibly excited the first time but the second he was more serious and worried that he was going to mess the kid up. How does the boy seem?"

"Small for his age. Shy … very shy. Nervous. But Emi got him to smile … at least from where he was hiding behind Adam's leg. Beyond that, I can't tell you."

The elevator binged and then opened. Mac glanced at the entrance doors and then grew concerned when he saw it was snowing. He was about to send an officer to check on Emi and Charlie when his eyes were drawn to Flack who was bent down and smiling as he showed something to a small boy.

Speaking to Lindsey while continuing to watch Charlie charm the hardened and experienced police detective Mac said, "You were wondering about Adam's nephew?"

Lindsey followed Mac's gaze and in a shocked voice, "Oh … my … god. That's … that's really … Wow."

"I suspect when the dye job grows out he'll look even more like Adam."

"Assuming that's possible. People are going to think that's not his nephew, that he's Adam's kid."

"Some likely will, it's almost inevitable given the similarities." At that moment Mac and Lindsey saw Adam walk out of a hallway carrying a CSI case he must have borrowed and a couple of evidence envelopes but he stopped short when he saw Emi and Charlie. He crossed the marble foyer with a worried look at his watch.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Adam thought at first there was a problem, nearly confirmed it when he saw it was snowing, but then relaxed when he saw Emi's genuine smile.

"Everything ok?" he asked as he approached.

It was Don Flack that answered, "Jamie escorted them down. A couple of reporters spotted Mac's Avalanche and were getting pesky. She just left to go get everyone some coffee because it is getting difficult to send the guys down to the coffee shop. That woman really knows how to use her elbows." Since Adam had seen Jamie put them to good use against people that wouldn't move in the past he wasn't about to disagree.

Not two moments later Officer Jamie Lovato came in through the glass entry doors carrying a box that had several cups of what looked like steaming coffee. She passed several out as she was walking across the foyer, offered one to Mac and Lindsey, both of them taking one gladly, then walked over to Flack and Adam.

"Three left," she said with a grin. To Emi she asks, "¿El niño debe tener chocolate caliente?"

To everyone's surprise, including Adam and Emi, Charlie answers, "Hot chocolate makes me bouncy."

Jamie bends down and says, "Hey! You can speak Spanish. I knew I liked you for some reason."

The little boy grinned bashfully and explained, "The ladies that took care of the place I lived didn't know English so I had to learn Spanish so they wouldn't give Daddy a headache."

Jamie saw the face both Emi and Adam made and quickly hid. Obviously they didn't care for the kid's father. And what? The kid was four and was already running interference for his old man? From where she stood it was a good thing that Adam got custody of his nephew. The little boy still wouldn't look her in the face but Adam took the small cup and checking to see how hot it was told Charlie, "Pssst, it makes Emi bouncy too but the other cup has her name on it. You two can be bouncy together."

Charlie giggled. "Really?"

Emi shrugged and said, "Let's find out." She picked up the other cup and winked at Charlie which told Charlie it was ok to accept the cup from Adam and sip on it.

Since Charlie was once again otherwise occupied with the cocoa and the rabbit hopping across a phonetic puzzle on Emi's tablet Adam whispered, "We'll get out of here soon."

"Relax," Emi told him. "The scene doesn't look messy. I can distract Charlie when they bring the body down. Get done what you have to, we're fine."

"You sure?"

Emi responded by giving him a faux stern look that said, "Go to work Buster."

After standing up Adam spotted Mac and walked towards him followed by Flack and Lovato. "I think I've gotten all we need from the tech. It looks like someone had been in there trying to erase things but couldn't figure out the system which is what had the manager acting like his curlers were wound too tight. They did manage to screw a few things up but it was a simple fix and what they scrambled on the security tapes I think I can reverse. Got some prints off of the knobs and switches but more smudges than anything else. If someone will lend me a camera with HD capability I'm going to see if I can't test out a piece of the Webber's equipment. Since there are a lot of people that are going to be in and out of here starting tonight, I want to get a VR set up for the scene as well as some of the access ways. Mr. Montague – the theater manager – said they already have a virtual tour of the theater auditorium but I doubt if it is up to Webber's specs but I still grabbed a copy of it just in case."

Mac nodded appreciatively. "That could be very useful. Lindsey, how much memory does your camera still have?"

While Lindsey and Adam headed back up the elevator Mac turned to Flack and Lovato. Don Flack looked over where Emi still sat with Charlie and said, "Cute kid. You know people are gonna talk. I've already seen some our people giving them careful looks."

Mac nodded. "Probably. And I've seen the looks already myself; however, if they look more than look do your best to head it off. Adam says he is going to try for full, permanent custody of Charlie and strange rumors he does not need."

"Custody would be easier if he and Emi were married," Jamie said.

"Yeah," Don said. "I kinda had a feeling they would have come back from Vegas either hitched or at least with a ring on her finger."

Mac didn't want to say anything, but apparently Jamie was as good at the premonition game as Flack when she surmised, "Bet that was the plan but that they put the kid's needs ahead of their wants."

Mac nodded. "Let's just say that the rest of us had the same impression. But that's their business. However, if Adam comes to you for some help …?"

Both of them said, "Of course."

"Good. Now about the case." Mac stopped when the theater manager spotted Emi and quickly moved in her direction. "Now what?"

# # # # # # # # #

"Dr. O'Ryan! Thank god!"

Emi looked up and then stood up and got in front of Charlie as the man nearly slid into them from the wet that had been brought inside on the marble floor making it slick. "Mr. Montague," Emi said by way of greeting as she helped the man stay on his feet.

"Dr. O'Ryan, something terrible has happened."

"Um … yeah … kinda heard that …"

"Oh not that," the man said, referring to the victim up in the old roof top garden area. "That's a bother yes but this … this is a tragedy!"

Remembering the man leaned towards the melodramatic Emi wondered what could be worse than a dead body. "Uh …"

Like some ancient Messenger of Doom, he announced, "All of the sketches and work you did for the museum … they've gone missing and our opening is next week!"

"Er …"

Nearly crying the man moaned, "Dear god, it's simply horrible. The portraits were ready to be hung as well as the other work you did for us and now … now they're simply …" The man looked like he was in danger of fainting. "Oh my god, what am I going to do?! The museum is an integral part of the audience participation portion of the production."

Emi muttered, "Say that five times fast."

"I … beg your pardon?"

"Nothing Mr. Montague. Don't birth a herd of purple cows. I've got another set of originals at home."

The man paled, then grabbed his chest. "You've … you've ..." Emi was afraid the man was about to collapse in apparent shock but his assistant finally caught up with him and helped him to sit on one of the ornate benches that lined the wall.

The three detectives were standing watching the drama unfold when Emi turned to them and crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue before mouthing, "Help."

She straightened her face as she turned quickly back around when she sensed that Montague had come back to her and grabbed her in an emotional hugged and squeezed. "My dear, dear Doctor. You've saved me. You've saved us all!"

"Uh ... okay," she said as she attempted to extricate herself from the touchy-feely man. "Hmmm. Maybe you should, you know, go take a lie down or something. You're looking a little toasted. Have your assistant give me a call in the morning and I'll make sure you get the …"

"I'll send a courier. No. I'll come myself. Yes. Yes. I'll hire a car and … dear god, maybe I do need to lie down. I'm faint. All of this is just …"

Emi was beginning to see the ridiculousness of it and struggled to keep a straight face as she said, "Hmm. Uh Miss … Miss …?"

"Lorraine. Just call me Lorraine," the assistant from earlier said with a grin. "You really have saved things you know. No way would I have wanted to try and replicate the clues you put in the artwork."

"Sure. Just give me a ring in the morning. We'll work it out."

Emi was about to explain things to Mac when Charlie asked, "Emimi? Why did that man and woman say you saved them?"

"Because he is a little silly and a big drama queen."

"Huh? But he's a boy … boys are kings, not queens."

Emi bit her lip again to keep laughing. Instead she asked, "Remember how I told you that I do things for museums?"

"Uh huh."

"Well a curator at one of the museums I did some work for asked me to help out with the museum here pro bono … that means I didn't do it for money. I guess some of the work I did is important enough that Mr. Montague got a little … um … emotional about it. How's that hot chocolate? Feeling bouncy yet?"

Charlie yawned. "Not yet. I think my toes must be too tired to bounce."

"Tell you what, how about you sack out on this bench for a bit."

"Will Uncle Da get ma … uh … upset?"

"Nope. Guarantee it."

Charlie willingly laid down on the padded bench and closed his eyes. Emi took off her long coat since she had a sweater on underneath it and laid it across Charlie.

Mac asked quietly, "He ok?"

"Just tired. He's been pulled pillar to post for so long, and then all of the craziness in Vegas … and he survived mostly on crackers and soup when someone thought about making sure he was fed. And now his body is adjusting to the cold weather and time change."

"Now about this project you did for the theater. Would there be any reason that someone would want to steal it?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"Honestly Mac? The only value they have is to the theater. I mean if someone was trying to screw things up for the opening perhaps, but otherwise they were just some very casual work I did because I was between projects at the time and it seemed kinda interesting. This was before Reni …" Emi had to swallow before she could finish. "It was about two years ago when I could afford to goof around a little with pro bono work."

Having seen Emi's "casual work" he surmised they were actually quite good, but that still didn't explain their theft and the timing of it. He looked at the retreating backs of the manager and his assistant. "It is a little too coincidental. Tell me about the work you did."

Emi shrugged. "Not a lot to tell. The production supposedly follows the life and tragic death of Olivia Toms. She died in 1920 and is supposed to haunt this theater but since she didn't even die here I doubt it."

"Doubt this haunting or hauntings in general?"

It took Emi a moment to realize that Mac was making one of his rare jokes to make her smile. "Oh. Ha, ha. Seriously though even if I did believe in haunts and all the things my grandmothers used to try and terrorize their grandkids with, I'd be less than inclined to believe in this one. Like I said, Olivia Toms may have died tragically but it wasn't in this theater. It wasn't even in this country."

At Mac's look of surprised enquiry, she was about to elaborate when he was called away to attend to some kind of official business. She mentally shrugged and then sat down. Knowing the kind of trouble she could get into if she got bored she carefully took her tablet from the sleeping child beside her and opened one of the new apps that Adam had installed for her.

It got bulky always carrying around a sketch pad and whatever medium she wanted to work with; pencil, charcoal, chalk, watercolor, markers, etc. When the doctors prohibited her from weighing herself down with a backpack until she was fully healed Adam came up with a solution for her fidgets. He refurbed a tablet he got at a wholesaler's auction that had once belonged to an architectural firm. Onto this he installed several different apps that, utilizing the touchscreen and a stylist, allowed Emi to both experience and express art in a new way. It wasn't quite as texturally pleasing as getting her hands dirty always was, but then again the new platform allowed her to try new mediums she'd never been interested in before like airbrushes and animation.

Thinking to both keep herself busy and help Adam she started taking photos of the lobby. Then, utilizing the stylist, she highlighted features or notated dimensions. She figured if he didn't need them at least she would have another background to work with. Slowly, as she played, an idea was born and she got so involved with it she was only partially aware of when Charlie sat up and began watching what she was doing. She did draw him closer and made sure he kept her coat draped around him but it was a fuzzy background action to her focus.

She did however notice when Lorraine, the theater manager's assistant, said, "Oh my god, that is so cool. Mr. B is gonna flip. I mean, if we can use that I mean. We've got the video screens …" She stopped and blinked. "You know the creative uses we could put this to are almost …" She faded off again as the elevator doors opened and the ME's office rolled out a stretcher that held a black body bag.

Emi asked, "Did you know her?"

"I don't know. She kinda looks familiar but I can't say for sure. Several of us have been wracking our brains trying to figure out why she looks familiar. We have so many people come through the theater … patrons, staff, students, maintenance and construction crews, tourists, you name it … and then there are the actors and their understudies. You know," she said after a thoughtful pause. "We do have a headshot book."

"A what?"

"A book of all the actors and actresses that have ever worked here. Ours is fairly unique because the headshots include them both in costume and out, and because it goes all the way back to 1904 when the theater was built. There's some great shots of the Ziegfeld girls that can't be found any place else."

Thinking hard and fast Emi asked, "Is it available to the public?"

"Not at the moment though James just finished scanning everything in preparation of a new exhibit in the theater's museum."

"And James is?"

"Mr. B's intern. He's a business student at NYU. He's going to flip when he hears what is going on, if he hasn't already. He's really into the history of theater in general, and of Broadway in particular. You know, James might know who the … the … uh …"

Ignoring the young woman's blanche at having to directly speak of the body, Emi asked, "Why do you think this James would be able to identify the victim?"

"Well, I don't know for sure that he could but he's got a thing for faces and hers, at least done up on make up like she is … was … is pretty memorable."

Not having seen the victim she'd have to take the assistant's word on it. She did, however, ask if it would be possible to get a copy of the scanned headshots. Her rationale to Lorraine was that she might be able to integrate some of them into the new exhibit but the reality was that she'd give Adam a copy to go with whatever other evidence the team had collected. She'd observed during the course of watching Adam over the years that while only some evidence was useful, since you didn't know what would help break the case, you gathered everything available just in case.

# # # # # # # # # #

Emi turned to Charlie and said, "Thank you for being so polite. You didn't interrupt even once."

"Interrupting people doing business is bad."

"Well, maybe not always bad," she told Charlie as she suspected some of his understanding came from having to deal with his father "doing business" around him. "But it isn't very polite to interrupt and you used really good manners and I'm proud of you. Sometimes even grown-ups forget to use good manners but you didn't, not even kinda sorta."

The little bit of tension that she'd felt in Charlie faded and he smiled proudly before saying, "I'll try and always make sure and use good manners so you and Uncle Da will keep me."

Her heart nearly melting Emi said, "Oh Charlie, we want to keep you no matter what and we certainly don't expect you to be perfect. Especially since I'm not very perfect. But thank you for being willing to try. I'll try and not mess up as well but you'll probably have to forgive me sometimes. How about this? We'll all try a whole bunch but when we make mistakes the other person forgives them. That sound ok to you?"

Charlie gave it serious consideration then nodded. But apparently it had made him think of something else. "Should I forgive Daddy even when he doesn't forgive me for making mistakes?"

Oh boy, did that question make Emi internally wince. "Well, here's the thing. Yes, you need to forgive your father. It isn't good when we carry bad feelings around inside. It winds up hurting us because it weighs our heart down. But … look Charlie, your father just wasn't taking good care of you. It involves a lot of adult kind of stuff but while you should forgive him, that doesn't mean you can go live with him." Trying to be gentle and fair she added, "At least not for a long time."

"I miss Daddy … but … but …" Then in a broken whisper he said, "But I don't think he misses me."

Emi pulled Charlie up onto her lap and just held the little boy and rocked him. He wasn't crying, the pain of that admission was too big to make even a four-year-old cry. But she offered him what comfort she could and gradually she felt him relax and fall back to an uneasy sleep.

That's how Adam found them an hour later and by that time even Emi could have used a nap.

"Dammit," Adam muttered to himself angrily. He felt guilty for not keeping track of time better. He should have realized that Charlie wouldn't be the only one who would need to reacclimatize to the cold. Emi had spent the last year recovering from both physical and emotional shocks and though she was much better, her energy level could sometimes drop unexpectedly.

Adam walked purposefully over to where Mac was talking with Danny and Don and said, "I really need to get Emi and Charlie home. I'll get a cab and then drive back into the lab after I get them settled."

Instead Mac said, "Actually if you are ready to leave I'll drive you home and then we can take the evidence into the lab and you can take care of securing Webber's equipment. I can take you home again after that."

"I appreciate the offer but I don't know how long it is going to take to set that stuff up. I can take the subway home when I need to."

"Or," Danny interjected. "Linds and I can take you home. The kids are at my aunt's house over that way because their school shut down for a week to fumigate the place after a kid came in with chicken pox. All of my aunt's grandkids have already had it so even if our two are already infected there's no worries there." Adam got an arrested look on his face and Danny asked, "What? You never had chicken pox?"

"No. I mean yes, I had it. I gave it to my brother and he had to miss the last game of one of his sports seasons." The face he made let everyone know it hadn't been a pleasant experience. "I just realized that we don't know anything about Charlie's immunizations or anything. I guess I need to find out about insurance for him and … geez."

Danny nodded in sympathy. "Kids. Having them isn't the complicated part. Taking care of them is. But if I haven't screwed up too bad then you'll do fine so don't have a heart attack. Got it? It'll work out. You two need any help you give Linds or I a call."

Adam smiled gratefully at Danny and sighed. "Emi has a pretty good handle on it because of Reni but you'll probably be hearing from me. I can't screw this up."

"You won't Buddy. Promise."

Don nodded encouragingly and Mac briefly squeezed Adam's shoulder offering his own silent support before everyone turned and went onto their next task.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"Well look who it is Stranger!" Jo said laughing and then giving Adam a hug as he came off the elevator with Mac at the lab.

"Hey Jo," Adam said with a relaxed smile. Turning to Mac Adam said, "I'm gonna go set up the first piece of equipment if it's okay. I want to try and up load this SDHC card before I head back home. If I don't finish I want to see about using the off-site access for the program so if you see my log-in being used from home that's what I'm doing. The house computers are all secure."

"I'm sure they are," Mac said with a nod because he knew Adam's attention to that type of detail. "Just don't forget to actually sleep at some point before you come back in tomorrow."

"Ha!" Adam laughed. "Good one Boss."

Jo watch Adam walk off towards the AV lab. With a concerned look at the fact that Adam had started to mumble to himself, Jo asked, "Do I even want to know what he is doing?"

Mac smiled to alleviate her concern and answered, "With luck he is going to create a VR representation of our crime scene."

After a surprised pause she asked, "Are you serious? They've only just started using that regularly in Quantico training courses and it is very, very difficult to get any time on the equipment from what I hear."

Mac nodded. "I don't understand all of it but basically he is beta testing some equipment designed by Marcus Webber."

"That guy that was on the front of the magazine Adam was waving in everyone's face a couple of weeks ago?"

"One and the same," Mac said chuckling as he remembered how excited Adam had been. "I thought at most Adam would use that tech conference to get on the list of beta testers but he came back with several pieces of Webber's equipment; and, while I haven't told Adam yet I've gotten three calls from other designers who'd like Adam to take a look at their stuff. The last one even contacted the Chief's office and now I've got to get into my office and call the man back to explain why the sudden interest in my Lab Tech."

Jo got a speculative look on her face. "Hmmm. You know, this might be a good time to remind the Chief that they still haven't put Adam's position back into the permanent category of the budget spreadsheet."

"I intend on doing that very thing," Mac said nodding. "While I do that do me a favor and check on Sid? He's better but I expect him to utilize those interns down there, not have them standing around observing while he does the work." Jo grinned and headed off to do that while Mac headed to his office to make a phone call.

# # # # # # # # # #

"Hey Sid!"

"Hellooooo Gorgeous," Sid told Jo as she walked into his office. "And what can I do for you on this fine afternoon?"

Giving the man a knowing looked she asked, "Caught you didn't I?"

After a pause Sid Hammerback, MD, New York City Medical Examiner turned serious and admitted, "I suppose you did. I am however taking a break and having a cup of ginger tea. Care to join me?"

"Not for the tea but are you starting to …" She couldn't even finish, so worried that his cancer had returned.

"No," he told her much to her relief. "But the treatment has left my stomach a tad on the sensitive side and I made the mistake eating some exceptionally spicy curry for lunch. I should know better but it tasted so good at the time," he added morosely.

"Don't scare me like that," she told him flapping at him with her hand. "Actually I was checking to make sure your interns are treating you right and to see if the DB from the Amster Theater has arrived."

"Yes to both dear Lady. I had just finished my initial exam when you came in. As for the interns, two of the three are working out quite well. The third however is having a hard time adjusting to the workload. I'll be dealing with that tomorrow."

Jo heard the ring of steel in Sid's voice and knew when he said he would take care of it, he meant exactly that so she left it in his capable hands. On the issue of the body however, "Can you talk and drink your tea at the same time?"

"Oh, of course. Actually I was about to call upstairs for someone to come down."

"Will I do?" Jo asked with a smile.

"More than admirably," Sid replied flirtatiously. An outside observer might wonder at their relationship but in truth, the two simply enjoyed their friendship a great deal … and friendship was all it was. Sid, after a few false starts, had finally found the woman of his dreams in his wife and was deeply and desperately in love with her. It was mostly for her sake that he'd bothered with the cancer treatments; under other circumstances he might have simply chosen to let nature take its course.

Pulling his notes towards him and picking up a remote control Sid turned on the computer screen behind his desk. "This is our victim."

"Oh my," Jo said getting her first look. "She's truly lovely even in death."

"Yes, she is. And unlike some that I've had come across my table, even with her make up and costume removed." Sid clicked the remote and a picture of the victim sans make up appeared.

"Her hair looks different."

"Upon seeing her I suspected, and then confirmed, that she had several hair pieces attached but even without them she's quite classically beautiful. A true brunette, five foot four inches, trim but still quite shapely, the legs of a former dancer with calluses on the toes where you would expect to find them. Nails and the rest of her body well cared for and maintained. The hair pieces themselves were quite good – professional grade – but fake nonetheless. Same with the eyelashes she was wearing. The make-up is also theater grade … the good stuff, not the kind that you can get from the drug store."

"COD?"

"After I open the body up I'll be able to be more definitive but I suspect ingestion of hydropchloric acid based on the extensive burns and thrombosis of the submucosal esophageal vessels. Look at this picture and you can see that the vessels give the appearance of chicken wire."

"A horrible death for a beautiful young woman. Can you say whether it was accidental or intentional?"

Sid sighed. "If it was intentional she likely had a partner or observer; according to what Hawkes said there was no glass or other other beverage container at the crime scene and she wouldn't have been able to go very far after ingestion occurred. While initially painless she would have quickly become aware of something being wrong. Hydrochloric acid is extremely corrosive. Given the amount of esophageal stricture I won't be able to give you an accurate idea of how much she drank, or in what solution, until I do an internal exam."

Jo had enough of what she came for that she stood. When Sid went to stand up as well she waived him down. "Finish your tea, you know you need it although I'm happy to see your color is already better. I'll pass your initial findings along. Just give me a call when the rest is finished and I'll come down and get it."

"Actually I may send an intern up with it; give them an opportunity to see what their work is used for."

"Now there's an idea," Jo said with a wink as she turned to leave.

# # # # # # # # # #

Adam Ross was a happy little clam, bee bopping around to the music coming into his ears from his iPod. The other Lab Rats weren't doing too badly either as each of them took a turn giving him a hand running wires and setting up the Webber equipment. In particular, Kendall Novak remained for a while after her shift ended, eager as much as all of the others to see the equipment in action.

Kendall tapped Adam on the shoulder and he turned to see her pointing at Mac coming down the hallway. Mac cut Adam a lot of slack but he continued to look askance at those of the lab personnel that insisted on listening to music while on the job.

Adam whispered, "Thanks." Then removed one of his earplugs and crawled up into the acoustic ceiling to drop the last of the wires he needed.

"Adam?" Mac called in consternation after realizing what the man was doing.

"Just a sec Boss. Just one more … yes!"

Adam came down through a different acoustic tile and then dropped, landing lightly despite how high he'd been. Mac shook his head and said, "Keep that up and your knees are going to hate you in a few years."

Adam shrugged so Mac added, "And if you won't do it for your knees, do it for me. OSHA has been crawling around again like angry red ants due to that crane accident in Lower Manhattan."

Chagrinned Adam said, "Sorry Mac. I just didn't want to have to wait for building maintenance. They take flipping forever."

"I agree. Just use a little more caution. In addition to the rest, I would hate to have to explain to Emi and Charlie why we had to rush you to the ER."

That did make Adam wince and he turned to Kendall to say, "Thanks. I didn't hold you up did I?"

"I would have let you know if you had," she said with a smile, much different from their interactions a year ago. "Frankly I'm as eager as everyone else is to see this equipment in action AV Boy."

Adam snorted but waived as Kendall turned and left after nodding respectfully to Mac.


	9. Chapter 9

_**Author's Note**_ _: Sorry it has taken so long to get this update posted. Nasty flu season around here and it has left me with not as much time as I've wanted for writing. Hopefully over the next week or so things will return to at least semi-normal._

 **Chapter 9**

While Mac was less overt in his actions toward Adam since their trip to New Orleans he nevertheless made it a point to be involved both personally and professionally in the young man's life. Adam continued to offer Mac an opportunity to exercise aspects of his personality that he normally kept firmly in check; however, seeing the dark circles of fatigue growing under Adam's eyes Mac asked with concern, "What's left to set up?"

Plugging a wire in Adam answered, "The panels and projectors, except I'm going to see if I can't reroute the programming to the Virtopsy space. I'm not forgetting that memo that you showed us that Budget and Accounting were starting to squawk about funding the constant updates if the space wasn't going to be utilized to its full potential. If I can mesh the two systems, for us that could significantly cut the cost of the Webber machinery and it would also give Marcus another way to market his tech. It would also give us a way to maybe catch a break with the Budget Nazis by showing that we can dual purpose the space and equipment as well as expand its use and potentially make it available to other precincts on a case-by-case basis. I just need to streamline the process and train enough people that I'm not the only one that knows how to use it."

Momentarily nonplussed by seeing that Adam actually had some business sense, it took a moment for Mac to form a response. Finally, he nodded thoughtfully. "Do you think Webber is going to consider this breaking the agreement the two of you had?"

"No," Adam answered definitively. "When the idea popped into my head a couple of hours ago I called Marcus and explained what I wanted to try. He about flipped because that is where he eventually wants to take his design. We decided that I would also set up the panels and see if I could get his original system to run both his own hardware – meaning the panels – and a patch to the Virtopsy room via a patch concurrently without straining the amount of memory required. If it does he's prepared to send over another memory expansion and consider it a system upgrade."

To say Mac was pleased with Adam's progress would be an understatement. "Now that sounds like a plan. However, you need to get some rest and I know that Danny and Lindsey are shutting down for the day as well. Let the night shift process the evidence and you get going too."

Adam looked up and suddenly took note of what time it was. He mentally reminded himself that he'd need to be less haphazard about that … minding the time. Emi cut him a lot of slack but he needed to change his ways now that they had Charlie to think about.

Adam nodded and said, "Looks like I'm going to be fiddling with this from home. I'm going to load the SDHC card and while that is going I'll check in with Danny and see when they want to head out." A little hesitantly Adam added, "Boss …"

When Adam stuttered to a stop Mac raised an eyebrow but all that did was cause Adam to blush though it was hard to tell because he'd let his hair and beard get a bit shaggy again. Emi had been teasing him just the other morning about going for the Grizzly Adams/Kris Kringle look. "Mac, I know this is late notice but … Christmas is coming pretty fast and … instead of working a double this year on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day I was … uh … wondering … you know for Charlie … if … "

"You want the day off?"

"Huh?! No! I mean no. Uh … I don't expect that, especially not as this is late notice but, maybe instead of back to back doubles if … if someone would split one of the days with me so that …" Adam slumped. "I never had this stuff growing up. My father was … well he didn't go in for all of it … blamed the commercialization and people spending stupid amounts of money just to show off and … he usually worked those days because he'd get time and a half or even double time and we were expected to help Mom take down the decorations and have the house spotless before he got home that night so that he could celebrate his own way with a bottle of the hard stuff in peace … uh … anyway …" Adam rolled his shoulders, as always, uncomfortable when revealing things about his past. "But Emi's family, who technically were even broker than mine, did celebrate Christmas. She's already got these … geez it's like a battle plan really … for baking and all this stuff and that's just when it was going to be the two of us and we planned on me working like usual. But … but now there's Charlie."

"Yes there is," Mac agreed. When Adam looked he saw Mac was smiling so he relaxed. Mac told him, "Let me see what we can do. The City actually talked about completely closing most offices for the day on the 25th to try and save money. We'll still need to have a skeleton staff on call and …"

"I can do that … really. I'm just looking for a few hours to try and … give Charlie … something … better memories or at least something to hold onto … you know … if … if we don't get … I just want him to have a chance. You should have seen his face Boss when we walked into the house and saw the decorations we put up after Thanksgiving. Emi didn't say anything but I could see her fighting back … tears. She's been dreaming about Reni a lot … even before New Orleans. Last Christmas was pretty hard on Emi … it was Reni's final hospitalization and the docs had admitted there wasn't anything more they could do. Both Charlie and Emi need … something better. I don't know if I … I mean … I'm not sure what to do but … but just a few good hours Boss … please?"

Mac patted Adam on the shoulder. "Relax. I think given the year that it has been for all of us we could all use 'a few good hours' for Christmas. I'm sure we can work something out."

Adam relaxed and grinned and Mac could see that underneath it all Adam was still very much the same person he'd been the day that he'd come in for his interview. Perhaps more mature and a little easier inside his own skin, but definitely still insightful and thoughtful where others were concerned but insecure where he himself was concerned. Perhaps that would never change. If it didn't he at least now had people in his life that would bolster his self-confidence when needed. And also perhaps having Charlie in his life, helping the small boy, would in some way heal Adam. At least that's what Christine had mentioned she hoped would come of the unexpected guardianship. Just last night they spoken of it.

# # # # # # # # # #

Mac came out of the bathroom after a quick shower, steam following him into their bedroom, and as he was toweling his hair dry he'd heard her mutter, "The gift of unexpected blessings."

He'd lowered the towel and said, "Waxing a bit philosophical tonight are we?"

She gave him a smile and said, "You know, we could have missed this. Yet we didn't. This love was so unexpected. But it has been such a gift. It made me think."

Giving his own mutter in reply he said, "I wasn't trying to make you think woman."

A blush spread lightly across Christine's peaches and cream complexion leading Mac to think that perhaps they should have shared the shower. Christine saw the thought and blushed even brighter before laughing gently and saying, "Honestly Mac."

He stretched and then climbed onto their bed before laying back and asking, "Ok, so … gifts from unexpected blessings. I'll buy that. I am a very blessed man."

Admiring his trim physique and vigor that had taken him a while to get back after all the time he'd needed to recuperate, she ran a soft hand along his rugged jaw line and then down his chest. "We could have missed this. I could have missed this. Neither of us was looking for what we've found and so many times we could have taken a different path and yet somehow … here we are."

Mac pulled his wife close and agreed. "Yes. Here we are. We decided to take that chance … and I'm most sincerely glad we did Mrs. Taylor."

They both settled back in their nest of bedding, Christine finally convincing him that it wasn't completely and wastefully decadent to sleep in something besides a military style bed with utilitarian sheets and a single flat pillow. Then she said, "You asked me earlier what I thought of Adam becoming his nephew's guardian."

"Hmmm," he said, more interested in the soft bundle of woman he held in his arms.

"I know you're concerned for him … Adam I mean … but perhaps between Emi and his nephew Adam can find his own gift of unexpected blessings."

Admitting that Christine had her own streak of stubbornness that matched his own, Mac decided to pay attention so that the conversation would go someplace, end, and then they could return to what he'd originally been thinking about.

"So you think it is a good thing … the guardianship."

"It has that potential … for Adam and the boy both. And Emi … though of them all I suspect she is the leeriest of what could be."

After a quiet moment he asked seriously, "Do you get the feeling that Emi is not 100% for this?"

"I don't think that Emi is against it, but I think she is worried … but not for the boy. She has stated several times that she believes that Adam is exactly what the child needs."

"Adam and what he needs. Which infers … that Emi isn't so sure that she is what he needs or that the boy is what she needs."

"Possibly."

"Could she be … jealous of the attention the boy might need from Adam?"

"No, it's not that at all," Christine said with absolute conviction. "She sent me numerous photos from Las Vegas and she always seemed so … so pleased."

"I hear a but in there," and Christine could hear the rumble of concern in his voice.

Trying to quantify her own concerns so that Mac would understand she explained, "There were no pictures of the three of them together. Emi has loads of her and Adam together … she's pretty good with the photo apps on her phone and tablet. Goodness knows she's had to show me how to use mine a few times. It just strikes me as odd now that I've taken the time to think about it that it would have been a natural progression for her to take pictures of the three of them together yet I've not seen any. I'm afraid that Emi may …"

"May what? Do you want me to say something to Adam?"

Christine shook her head. "No. This is something they'll have to work out themselves. Adam will either see it or he won't. I think Emi is worried that … that she may not have any part in whatever is coming down the road. I think she may be … hmmm … stealing herself for them to … to no longer need her. Or at least for Adam not to need her in the same way. I worry that she's going to … going to be willing to settle … and that she'll miss what can be. She might be too afraid to take the chance that she's part of their future landscape in any way other than a … well … as a housekeeper making it easy for Adam to keep his nephew. Her fear and worry could cause her … all three of them … to miss the gift life is offering. That would be so sad," she added rubbing her cheek against Mac's chest and running her hand up his rib cage.

"Christine?"

"Hmmm?"

"Not that I don't find your … conversation … extremely stimulating but … I've other things I'd like to … discuss."

He felt her lips smile before hearing, "Oh yes, a change in topic is most definitely in order."

# # # # # # # # # #

Mac smiled momentarily thinking about how that particular conversation had ended but then grew serious once again. Christine was correct. Sometimes you had to choose to accept a gift to get the full blessing from it. Looking through the glass wall he spotted Adam speaking animatedly with Danny and gesturing to the Webber equipment. He seemed happy, excited, with the only shadows hovering around him the ones forming beneath his eyes. But Mac was now concerned that perhaps, despite Christine's statement to the contrary, he should say something so that Adam could guard against potential problems. On the other hand the last thing he wanted to become was a meddlesome old man.

# # # # # # # # # #

Emi appeared to calmly walk down the stairs to the front room of the house. She was carrying a cardboard box. "Charlie?"

Charlie, who had been staring out the window turned back quickly. "I didn't touch anything Emimi."

She smiled. "If you did it isn't any big deal. Just be careful. I don't want anything to hurt you."

"But I could break something."

Noting the little boy's worry she said, "Maybe. But I've seen that you are careful so you wouldn't mean to. That counts you know."

"It … it does?"

"Mmm hmmm. But I doubt you'd be interested in the stuff in this room. Most of it is just leftover things from when my aunt lived here. I've gotten rid of most of the breakable stuff but I'm still working on making things comfortable. There's only three places you need to be extra careful in … your Uncle Adam's stuff down in the basement because he has his electronics down there, the kitchen because there's lots of sharps and things in there that could hurt you, and … well … I have a work room at the back of the house and there's chemicals and stuff in there that could hurt you so I'm going to keep it locked. Not because I don't trust you but because it makes me feel like I'm doing my job of protecting you. OK?"

"Uh … ok."

"But see …" Emi balanced the box she was carrying then went back and forth from one foot to the other nervously. "I … I might have something you'll find more interesting. You don't have to. But … maybe … if you want …" Emi was so nervous that even Charlie could tell. But a couple of hours later when Adam came home he found the two of them in the kitchen covered in goop laughing hysterically.

"Uh … ok, what did I miss?"

Charlie looked at Adam and said, "It 'sploded! It 'sploded allllll over the place! We're going to need a bath!"


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

All of the Techs were in the AV lab listening to Adam speak. "Look, each of you have seen a Virtopsy. This isn't much different."

Adam looked up when one of the newer lab techs snorted and grumbled, "Easy for you to say, you actually understand all of that techno-crap. Give me a microscope and something physical to view or measure any day over all of this crazy AV Boy comic book stuff."

Adam was about to open his mouth on a comment when Kendall smarted off, "Geez Randy, you're such a little ray of sunshine. Your mother is going to really miss you when you finally get around to moving out of her basement."

Since the man was in his late-thirties and had been overheard bragging about having turned his mother's basement into his "man cave apartment" a few other female lab techs had to bite their lips to keep from laughing.

"Yo, c'mon. No shedding of blood," Adam said, though he was smiling a bit himself. "This isn't going to add to the work load around here. I'm beta testing it is all … but the potential is there to really make a name for our lab … and those of us that work here." Trying to get them to see the possibilities he started with the most vocal opponent. "Randy, you said you were planning on going to graduate school right? Wouldn't it add to your application to say that you worked in a lab with a cutting edge, functional 3D imaging system?"

Unwilling to admit it Randy just shrugged while maintaining his sour disposition. Adam wanted to get nasty with the guy for trying to suck the joy out of the new for everyone but decided to ignore him instead. "The Virtopsy technique was created over in Switzerland then imported here. It's an accepted procedure that is now admissible in court."

Kendall, seeing both the possibilities and shortcomings, said, "For determining manner of death but the equipment still falls short where cause of death and mechanism of death. It isn't a perfect device and I've seen it deposed on several occasions for lack of human oversight at critical points."

"Sure. Nothing is ever going to completely replace human examination of evidence, whether that is physical evidence gathered at the scene or autopsy of a body. Technology is a tool, but it is still going to have to be wielded by man … uh … or woman … geez, you know what I mean."

His attempt at avoiding some of the more pointed stares by his female colleagues drew a few chuckles and then someone who had just transferred in from another part of the state asked, "Fine, explain the Virtopsy for me. I got a glimpse during my orientation but they don't have anything like it where I was working before."

Adam ordered his thoughts for a moment. Mac had asked him to introduce the equipment to the other Lab Rats so they'd know what was going on but it was proving more complicated than saying, "Here you go kids, welcome to the 21st century in forensic science."

He cleared his throat then said, "Ok, I'm going to try and simplify the process. If you have any questions just stop me. After a body comes in and for whatever reason there's a determination that a virtual autopsy is needed to clarify an existing physical autopsy or for some other reason such as the body itself being too hazardous or fragile for a physical autopsy that would risk obliterating potential evidence. First thing that happens is that the body is prepared for imaging by the Virtibot which places markers on the outside of the body. After the markers are placed the Virtibot then takes a 3d color model of the body. This scan uses stereoscopic cameras to capture the color image and a projector to cast a mesh pattern on the body. The resolution of the cameras is extremely high, about two-tenths of a millimeter. Once this image is created the picture can be manipulated on a computer screen so that identifiers such as tattoos or other surface marks can be noted. The beauty is that this is all mechanized so that it takes as little as 10 seconds, much less time than required by the human eye to catalogue the same information."

Kendall nodded and said, "We use that technique for physical evidence here in the lab all the time. You're essentially taking an extremely high def photo and blowing it up so that microscopic anomalies can be viewed by the naked eye."

"Pretty much," Adam agreed. "And using that same example the Virtopsy is a type of radiographic examination tool that has been enhanced to make it even more useful. What happens after the surface scan is that the body is brought to the Tomography and MRI labs double-wrapped inside a special body bag through which X-rays can easily pass and is laid on the sliding table of the CAT, MRI and MRS equipment. The bag remains closed while the body is scanned both to respect privacy of the dead and maintain cleanliness of the surroundings. The bag also prevents any potential contaminants from compromising any personnel in the room. Not to mention, this part of the procedure also ensures evidence integrity allowing the findings to stand up in court by addressing the issue of cross contamination. Long story short, the body in the bag then undergoes a computed tomography (CT) scan. The a process only takes about 20 seconds and creates up to 25,000 images, each one a slice through the body. Same thing happens in the hospital when a CT scan is ordered on a live subject. After this the body is also subjected to MRI and MRS scans. The information from all the internal and external scans is fed in our mainframes where the data is combined and rendered using CAD-style programs and ultra-powerful graphics processors."

Another Lab Rat said, "Sounds about like what my sister does. Only under normal circumstances each of those tests are done separately in different parts of the lab at the hospital."

Adam nodded. "Sure, but there your dealing with live humans. Cost is an issue as well, just like it is for us here. In the hospital costs are shaved by narrowing the type of scan to the one which will provide the best results. For the medical examiner's office, costs are shaved by reserving the Vitropsy for only those cases where it will provide the greatest benefit as well."

Unbeknownst to Adam and the other lab techs Mac, Sid, and Jo were observing. Sid was very intrigued. "That young man has surprising talents."

Jo nodded agreeing with Sid while Mac looked on, a great deal less surprised than he would have been had he witnessed such a display even six months ago.

Adam continued his explanation. "In as little as 10 minutes, data representing thin X-ray slices of the body are reconstructed into crisp, detailed images of bone and tissue. Different tissues, bodily substances and foreign objects (such as bullets) absorb the scanner's X-rays in varying amount and the different absorption levels are rendered into a 3-D visualization of different colors and opacities; similar to what we do in the lab with physical evidence. A pathologist can then peel through layers of virtual skin and muscle with the click of a computer mouse, or in the case of the latest upgrades, by designated hand motions that correspond with various 'tools' such as the magnifier. Just to simplify things further, I've got it pretty well where the tools are standardized with the photo tools we use up here in the AV lab."

Someone choked off a laugh and asked, "You call this simple?"

Adam smiled. "OK, so everyone here is smart enough to realize that my explanation is a little oversimplified but essentially that is the way that the Virtopsy system works. And pretty much that is also going to be how the 3D imager for our virtual crime scene will work as well once the system is fully developed. Right now we are restricted to external data only … take enough pictures of a scene, make sure the resolution is extremely tight, then mesh all of the data points and project them into a virtual theater which allows you to 'walk' through a crime scene without actually being there. The HD aspect will allow an investigator to magnify any given area, look for specific shapes or colors and highlight them, determine textures, etc."

"We can do that now," Kendall pointed out.

"Yes … and no. We can examine individual pictures. I've even taken all of the photos from all of the cellphones at a party and created a virtual picture of a crime scene … but the results have been strictly two dimensional … at least up until now. What we are talking about is true three dimensional photography. The computer builds the model and then the user can even rearrange furniture, determine the angle of light based on weather and time of day, remove room features … or add them. We can even place people in the scene. Hang on … let me give you a partial example."

From the other side of the glass Sid bit his lip excitedly and said, "Now this I wanna see."

Adam spent the morning setting up the panels and projectors while the computer built the data points for yesterday's crime scene so that it could be viewed down in the Virtopsy room. He took a flash drive and plugged it into a USB port and there was a symphony of taps as his fingers ran across the unit's keyboard setting up his demonstration.

Adam explained, "You've all met Emi. Well last night she was playing with my nephew and kind of running her own experiment. She's working on a new project model where she combines sketches and real settings and then runs it through an animation program. She combined her experiment with wanting me to see what they were doing while I wasn't around … and she has this thing about documenting stuff and this was Charlie's first science experiment. She set her tablet to record the action in the room only as you'll see things went a little … mmm … awry."

Into the space created by the panels a virtual representation of their kitchen appeared. "I took these pictures playing with a camera to see how realistic I could get the virtual model to be. I know the kitchen well … it's where the cookies are baked … and I gotta say, so far so good, though taking pictures in the field is different from taking them in the lab and I'm thinking perhaps dedicated cameras on a tripod with 360-degree capability in various locations at a scene may be what is ultimately needed to keep there from being blank spots. Now," he said with some additional clicks. "we have the scene so let's add in the crime."

A child-sized model volcano set up appears on the kitchen table and Emi and Charlie appear and are walking within the scene. "Note that while the room is 3D, Emi and Charlie are two-dimensional. I've got ideas on how to make scene additions three-dimensional as well but for now this is what we have to work with. Now watch."

Everyone watches in fascination as Emi and Charlie laugh and set up the volcano and start to add the ingredients into the interior basin of the model where the chemical reaction will take place. Only in the middle of the last ingredient Emi suddenly looks away. Adam freezes the action.

He says, "You can't tell it since there is no sound – another limitation of the system for the moment – but Emi just heard the timer on the stove go off. She'd lost track of time playing with Charlie and the dinging startled her." He resumed the demonstration and no sooner had Emi turned back to the volcano than it "exploded." The look on Emi and Charlie's faces was classically comedic causing everyone in the lab to burst out laughing.

Kendall could barely ask, "What happened?!"

"Let me back it up … you see Emi get startled by the timer going off but what else happens?"

It only took the group a moment to see it. Emi had been measuring ingredients into the cavity but as she turned she'd joggled the box so that a clump of one of the dry ingredients had fallen into the cavity without her noticing. When she'd added the teaspoon of additional dry ingredient the chemical reaction had become violent and instead of gently oozing out of the cavity and over the sides of the "volcano" they instead wound up with an "explosion" of goop that flew in every direction.

Adam was laughing as much as the others were. Danny had, who'd stopped by to investigate the noise said, "I only have one question professor. Did she save the cookies?"

Adam answered, "Oh yeah, definitely. And a good thing too. It took us a couple of hours to clean both Charlie and the kitchen"

A little snidely Randy asked, "What about Emi? Did you clean her up too?"

Kendall, having found a new target for her snark answered, "Well I can see you need to find yourself a tutor Randall if you plan on going to grad school. That particular topic is not covered under chemistry. That's biology 101. Get it straight will you?"

Randall beat a hasty retreat after realizing Kendall wasn't the only one that wasn't going to let him try to pick a fight with the so-called King of the Lab Rats. For his part Adam decided that while Randy would bear watching, he wasn't much of a threat. After everyone else had filed away, back to their work stations, Sid all but skipped into the AV lab and said, "I'm teaching a post-grad course next semester at NYU and you're invited to be a guest speaker. As a matter of fact, you and Emi are both invited."

Adam's mouth opened and stayed that way as panic slowly entered his eyes.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

"Uh … uh …"

Jo slapped her knee and said, "I think that's a great idea Sid."

Adam just continued to, "Uh … well … uh …"

Taking pity on him Mac said, "Great presentation and the mess spectacular; however, I'd like to see how this equipment works with an actual crime scene."

Adam looked at his watch, then held up a finger before jogging over to a bank of sensors and external memory drives. Looking up he said, "If you don't mind potentially having to deal with a couple of glitches, we can go down to the Virtopsy room now and see if this puppy works the way I hope it does."

Rather than give a verbal answer, Mac nodded and headed towards the elevators.

# # # # # # # # # #

There were indeed a few glitches but they were minor and quickly addressed and that actually gave the CSIs a greater appreciation of the system … and of Adam's technical skills. The virtual Roof Top Garden crime scene was finally displayed and Mac had called all of the CSIs in … as well as Don Flack who'd just dropped by to pick up a report … to experience the newest advancement in their lab's capabilities.

Lindsey Messer walked around staring and finally spoke for them all when she said, "This is amazing!"

Adam nodded. "Marcus is going to completely geek out. I gotta call him. Depending on his schedule he may fly out just to check out how his baby is performing. I can't believe how easy it was to patch the projection program from the scene replicator so that it would function with the projection cameras here in the virtopsy room."

Flack said, "I know these crates ain't real … hell I'm walking through them. But the next person that puts their foot through the vic there …"

Jo nodded. "I know. It's so freaky. It's like we're … ghosts passing through solid objects."

Her words jolted Adam's memory. "Oh … Boss … Emi sent over copies of all of her research and duplicates of her sketches and stuff that she did for the theater's exhibit on Olivia Toms. She was telling me about it last night after we put Charlie to bed."

Danny looked at him and said, "I take it that it's not a fit subject for the kiddies."

"No," Adam said making a face, remembering the bruise shin he'd gotten when Emi had kicked him under the table for bringing it up during dinner. "She was only twenty-five years old when she died and even today some of what she was into would cause a scandal. At a minimum she would have been constant fodder for the rag mags."

Mac was reluctant to end the demonstration but he knew everyone needed to get back to the work of solving this case. Sighing he said, "Danny, you and Hawkes examine the scene and see if anything stands out. Adam, bring Emi's work to my office and let's go over it and see if there's anything useful or ties in with the vic."

# # # # # # # # # #

Back in Mac's office the two men started displaying Emi's work on the boards that Mac kept in there for just such a purpose.

Mac was silent for a while, enthralled by the realism of the artwork. It was easy to mistake some of them for photographs. Yet despite the stylistic emphasis on the mundane and ordinary, she often captured the facet of a person or object that escaped the average eye. There was a convex mirror in one of her paintings that was so realistic that it was an illusion. "Adam, I know you likely hear this a great deal but Emi's work is extraordinary."

"Yeah, I hear it," Adam agreed. "I just wish Emi did."

Mac stopped what he was doing and turned to ask, "Excuse me?"

"What I mean is she hears the words but they don't really register. She honestly doesn't consider what she does … I mean it's personally satisfying to her, especially if something requires her to stretch her talents, but she doesn't really recognize what she does as significantly artistic. It's like she has a bad connection in her hardwiring … which is probably about as close to reality as anyone will be able to get to understand it. She recognizes other people's art, really gets stuff that just frankly does nothing for me, but her own work? It's like she only can see it as a means to an end. I think that's one of the reasons why she gravitated into forensics rather than into art for art's sake. For instance, you've seen the work she did down in our basement."

"Yes," Mac answered, thinking of the unusual interior design Emi and Adam had created. "Emi said the ideas were yours."

"Ha! I might have had a few ideas but Emi took that and … and … geez … fleshed the sketches out and brought them to life. Everything is geometric and modern yet the materials she used and the décor isn't harsh or cold. I can't explain it exactly, I just know that … that I can go down there after a rough case and … and …" Adam turned and looked at Mac before saying, "It's home in the same way the lab was always more my home than my apartment was. The apartment was where I slept … the lab is where I lived. Now it's like I have two homes … the lab is still my home but so's the house. Last night Emi handed me a plate of cookies and told me to go relax so I could think. I started walking down to the basement before I realized what I was doing. And it worked. I was able to think all the thoughts I needed to and then put them in the right compartment without becoming exhausted and stressed out. And Emi … she created that space for me. She wanted me to know that I had a place in the house even though it was filled to the rafters with her memories of her family. It was like her way of welcoming … and somehow she just knew me in a way that … that … never mind." Adam shook his head.

"Actually I know what you mean. Christine and I decided since her place was bigger and closer to the restaurant that it just made more sense for me to sell mine and move into hers. Yet, Christine seemed to … to delight in making the place ours yet finding a way that I could still have a corner that was all mine … one that I could … retreat to when I needed to. She turned the downstairs bedroom into a den where I keep the things that we didn't integrate into the rest of the place. Not to have a place for those items but so that I would have a place … one that was mine in a way that the restaurant is hers and the rest of the house is ours."

"Exactly," Adam said.

Mac reached into the box and pulled out the last item, a thick binder containing a lot of handwritten notations along the borders of photocopied articles from magazines and other resources. "What's this?" he asked.

Adam answered, "Short answer is that it is a chronological timeline of Olivia Toms' life. Part biography, part research paper. Before you start reading you want the Cliff Note's version?"

"Please," Mac said on with a sardonic grin.

"Olivia Toms was born in 1894. Her birth name was Olivia Duff and she was born into a poor, working class family. Her father died in an industrial accident leaving her mother to raise her and a couple of younger siblings on what little bit she could earn in a factory job. From the time she was very young, Olivia was left to raise her younger siblings while her mother worked in a textile mill. When her youngest sibling finally became school age Olivia took a job in a local department store. At sixteen she escaped the drudgery of being her siblings' caretaker for the drudgery of marriage to an older man, Krug Toms. The marriage didn't even last a year due to abuse by the hard drinking Toms. Olivia Toms quickly found work to support herself in a department store and on a lark entered a local beauty contest which she easily won. Before she was eighteen Olivia won the title of 'Most Beautiful Girl in New York City.' With the title came notice by influential men, one of whom was Florenz Ziegfeld and in no time Olivia became one of the famous Ziegfeld Follies girls."

Mac leaned against the desk, crossed his arms, and became interested in the biography despite himself.

"The story goes that men went wild for her and in short order she was living a very … er … sexually free-spirited lifestyle that was practiced by many of the Ziegfeld girls as well as the fast crowd they ran with. I mean there's stories of wild parties, orgies, drugs, alcohol and just some really crazy things. Some of her exploits are just the stuff of legends but it is provable that she posed nude for several famous painters, one of whom was Alberto Vargas. You do know who Alberto Vargas was don't you Boss?"

Mac chuckled. "Actually I do. He was famous for his pin up girl paintings. I remember my father and his friends …" Mac shook his head still smiling.

Adam's eyes lit with humor. "Yeah. My Uncle Brian had a few of those too. He's actually the one that explained about … er … anyway, the resulting artwork went for huge amounts of money. It made Olivia Toms even more famous and it next led her to be signed to do Silent Pictures. She did her first one in 1916 at the age of twenty-two and was an instant success. That same year she married Jack Pick, the brother of another famous silent movie star, despite his family disapproving of the match. Their personalities and lifestyles caused the marriage to be tumultuous from the beginning; nor was it helped by the amount of work coming Olivia's way. In 1917 alone she made four films, in 1918 she made three, and in 1919 she made six. She was the toast of town on both coasts. She and Jack lived hard, played hard, and were in high demand at every party and special event. Jack was often jealous of the attention paid to his wife but at the same time encouraged it as a way for both of them to keep working in the Hollywood of that era though there is no doubt that he was never even close to being in her league as an actor. In 1920 however they decided to take a step back from what their life had turned into – it was still early days and Olivia had already made three successful films that year. The couple took a trip to France to try and repair the damage all of the fast living had done to their relationship."

"Did they succeed?"

"They might have except that's where the scandal comes in."

"Scandal."

"Yep. Rather than slow down and renew their commitment which is what their stated purpose had been for the trip, Jack and Olivia simply transferred their fast life from one side of the Atlantic to the other. They also continued arguing, sometimes violently, though people who knew them said that's simply the result of two volatile and dramatic personalities living together. Most people counted them as being desperately in love and all of that other melodramatic mumbo-jumbo. What is a fact is that both Jack and Olivia drank quite a bit. One night after a party they returned to the rooms they shared and apparently drunk is in the eye of the beholder. Some reports have them only mildly inebriated and some reports have them falling down drunk, either way most of the investigators stated that the faculties of both were at least slightly compromised that night. Jack stated that he was in the living room of their hotel suite finishing a cigarette and waiting for Olivia to get out of the bathroom so he could take care of his own ablutions and head to bed because they had an early appointment the next day. Then he heard Olivia scream and he rushed to her only to find her in shock on the bathroom floor. He immediately called for the hotel doctor and he determined that she'd ingested bi-chloride of mercury."

"That stuff is pretty damn caustic."

"It is and within the week she died of nephritis."

"Her kidneys failed."

Adam nodded. "Pretty much. Probably most of her organs were failing at that point. Then came the coroner's investigation."

"I take it because someone thought it was suspicious."

Adam nodded again. "Because she'd died of poisoning and there were some witnesses that claimed that Olivia and Jack had been fighting quite heavily that day … but in the end the coroner found death by accidental self-poisoning. The bottle was labeled in French and the bathroom had been dark … and the woman was at least a little drunk. The problem was that Jack would have known exactly what the stuff was because … get this … it was what he'd been prescribed to treat a case of syphilis."

"Not an unreasonable finding even with it having been her husband's prescription. Unfortunately, STDs weren't exactly unknown during that era, especially given their reported promiscuity. So why the ghost story?"

"According to Emi there is no good reason. Basically it was one of the earliest big Hollywood scandals and she was a beautiful and famous woman who died a horrible death. And some of her husband's statements to the paparazzi of the day were also a little suspect."

"For instance?"

"He said she spoke to him while she was hospitalized, kept telling him everything would be okay and even the day before she died, when it was obvious she was failing, she still seemed to think that after a short rest she'd be all right and they would go back to the States and continue on with their lives. But given the coroner's statement concerning the damage to her throat I doubt the woman was doing any speaking. Hell, I doubt she was even awake given the amount of opiates they were giving her for the pain she was in. Then there was Jack's attempted suicide on the boat coming back with her body. He was almost constantly drunk from the day of Olivia's death and required a watcher the entire time … some people said it was grief, some said it was guilt. What is a fact is that after being cleared by an additional investigation here, he sobered up long enough to remarry to someone more to his family's liking. That marriage however ended in divorce, and the only reason his third marriage lasted is because he died before divorce proceedings could be completed. He was only thirty-six."

"What did he die of?"

"Multiple neuritis, probably brought on by his alcoholism and drug abuse. Or perhaps by the medications prescribed to treat his syphilis that contained high levels of mercury. It's all pretty hypothetical."

Mac slowly nodded. "I can see where this would make one hell of a play. The question for us is how does this connect to our vic."


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"Babe?"

"In here!" Emi called from the kitchen.

Even had Adam been blind he would have been able to find the room because of the delicious smells coming from it.

"Uncle Da! You're here!"

Adam was just in time to put his satchel down and catch the small boy as he launched himself from across the room. Despite being tired Adam proceeded to fly Charlie around the room much to the small boy's delight.

When he finally ran out of steam – it really had been a long day for Adam – Charlie said, "Uncle Da! Uncle Da! Guess what we did!"

Leaning against the kitchen counter Adam got a silly look of extreme concentration on his face before answering, "Hmmm … painted pink elephants on the Empire State Building?"

Charlie snickered, "No!"

"Uh … dug to China in the backyard?"

"No! But Mrs. Morrisey's dog dug into the garbage and Mr. Morrisey said some bad words."

Adam grinned until he caught Emi looking exasperated and he knew she'd be watching to see that Charlie didn't hear "bad words" any more than could be helped. "Er … maybe you shouldn't listen to that sort of stuff," Adam told him with a wink. "Let's see … oh I know I know … you … naw, not that … hmph … guess you are going to have to take pity on me and just tell me."

Charlie laughed and said, "We baked cookies and …" Charlie's eyes got really big. "I got to eat as many as I wanted. I ate a whole … plate … of … cookies! I can't believe it!"

Adam gave a huge belly laugh. "Yep. You're definitely a member of the Ross family. No doubt about it."

Emi turned from what she was stirring on the stove and added, "And he drank two whole glasses of milk as well."

Bending over to tickle Charlie Adam asked, "Cool deal. You still have room for dinner in that tummy Little Man?"

"You bet! This is the fullest my tummy has ever been and there's still room in there for the yummy stuff Emimi cooks!"

Emi asked gently, "Charlie did you wash your hands?"

"Ooops. Gotta go!"

The young boy tore down the hall to the bathroom sounding like a heard buffalo and Adam took advantage of the moment of alone time to come up behind Emi and kiss the back of her neck making her threaten to pop him with the wooden spoon she had been stirring with. Adam grabbed it and started to lick the gravy that was on it then moaned, "Tell me dinner is ready. I'm staaaaarving."

Emi smiled. "How about you go wash your own hands 'Uncle Da' and I'll put it on the table."

A half breath later Emi laughed as Adam tore down the same hallway making at least as much noise as his nephew had then both of them coming back with identically hopeful looks on their faces.

# # # # # # # # # #

Much later that evening, after Charlie had gone to bed following being told a ridiculous bed time story by Adam about a boy named Charlie who took on a giant with purple hair that lived atop a beanstalk that smelled like stink weed, who ate tap dancing beans and was friends with a rapping goose that lay golden eggs, Emi sat on a poof chair in their bedroom brushing her long hair. Lazily, with his eyes half closed, Adam watched her for a moment before asking, "Did someone from the Amster come to pick up the stuff you put together for them?"

"Yeah; guess not tripping over it where it was piled at the front door was a pretty good clue. The guy came not too long after you left this morning. It was that intern … James something or other. Did he go to see you today?"

"Me? Why?"

"I told him that he needed to. He said he thinks he knows why the woman looked so familiar … something about her being a drama student at NYU."

Adam reached for his phone, hesitated a moment, then dialed Don Flack's phone.

After a few rings Don answered. _"Flack."_

"Hey … uh … Don. I'm sorry to call so late."

 _"_ _Not a prob. I was up."_ What Adam didn't know was that he was up because Jamie had come over for Chinese take-out … and a little interpersonal time. Don tried to grab the sheet from his bed as the woman in question rolled over in her sleep but was only partially successful; Jamie had been on a stake out most of the previous night and their lovemaking had used up the last of her energy. It didn't take Flack long to realize he needed to check the thermostat or risk frost bite in uncomfortable places.

 _"_ _What's up?"_ Flack asked Adam hoping that he'd be able to join Jamie in slumber sooner rather than later.

"Did that intern from the Amster … first name is James … come by the precinct today?"

 _"_ _Er … not that I'm aware. Why?"_

Adam answered, "Emi said he came by the house to pick up some replacement artwork for the Theater Manager to display for the upcoming play and told her that he thinks he recognized the vic as possibly being a student at NYU in the drama department."

 _"_ _I'll make a call, maybe he spoke to someone else."_

"I … er … I'm sorry about calling so late just don't want anything to fall through the cracks."

 _"_ _Don't worry about it. I might need to look up Mr. Intern myself tomorrow just in case. Getting' a little irked we aren't making more headway with this case than we have."_

"Ok. 'Nite Don."

 _"_ _You too."_

After disconnecting Adam looked over at Emi and said, "Come to bed Emi."

"I will in a minute I …"

"Emi …"

There was too much understanding in his voice and Emi looked over in consternation. "How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"You know what I'm talking about Adam Ross. I haven't said a word and yet … you somehow know."

Adam sighed. "The photo albums. You moved them someplace. You don't need to do that Emi. I may not have … look, I loved her but I understand it wasn't the same way that you did. But I still … I'm no good at saying it Babe, but I feel it. Don't shut me out."

Emi slowly put the brush down and tried to control her breathing and expression before turning around. She couldn't quite hide the sorrow in her eyes however. "I'm not … I mean I'm not trying to …" Emi gave up. "Charlie overheard Mrs. Morrisey."

"Saying what?" Adam asked cautiously. He liked the old couple but it was a fact that they had a habit of forgetting to control their volume.

"She said that Charlie would help … would help put Reni's ghost to rest."

Adam sat up quickly. "Holy smokes!"

Worried that Adam would be upset she hurriedly said, "I explained everything to him Adam. Charlie isn't scared or anything. I didn't want him to think that was the only reason that you …"

"Oh Babe, I'm not worried about that. I'm just sorry … damn … are you ok? I know Mrs. M didn't mean anything bad by it but … damn. Just because Charlie is here does not mean I expect you to forget about Reni. Or hide your memories of her. Ever. She was … is … your daughter and nothing will ever change that."

Emi was shaking but refused to give any other outward sign of her grief. "I'm fine. And … and thank you. But in a way Mrs. Morrisey is right, just for the wrong reason. Reni is in a better place and doesn't need me anymore. You and Charlie do still need me. It is a matter of controlling what I can and living with what I can't."

Adam moved to make room for Emi in the bed but pulled her close despite her stiffness. "But there's days that is harder than it is on others Babe."

Finally, Emi relaxed in his arms, surrounded by his understanding. "I don't mean to ruin things Adam."

"You aren't ruining anything and I don't want to hear that again." He kissed her temple and refused to let her move away. "You know Reni wouldn't want you to tear yourself apart like this. You did everything humanly possible for her … and some things that were super human."

"But it wasn't enough."

Unable to deny it Adam simply held her as she finally allowed a few silent tears to fall.

# # # # # # # # # #

There was no light and the only sound was the crying and whispered words. "I tried. I did. But she caught me by surprise."

"But how could you do it?!"

"I didn't! It was an accident!"

"An accident? An accident?! I'm calling the police."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

Some object darker than the dark that surrounded them rose up and then came down. A groan of pain and then the thing rose and fell two more times. A moment of panic and then an impulsive decision followed by the sound of something large being dragged across a floor. A few moments later there was a clatter and then all was silent and dark once again.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

A voice seemed designed to irritate Don Flack said, "This place is haunted. Olivia Toms just isn't …"

"Ok, enough of that already," Don Flack barked at one of the rookies that had been assigned to the case. "It stopped being funny before you said it the first time. Get your head in the game, your ass in the building, and I don't want to hear you egging on any of the others either. Got it?"

Properly chastised the young man muttered, "Uh … sure Detective Flack … I mean yes Sir Detective … uh …"

Fighting the feeling of having just kicked a puppy Don said, "Scram already."

Danny Messer walked up after hanging back a bit to witness the exchange. "That one ain't gonna make it if he don't figure out when funny is good and when it's not."

"Do I hear experience talking?" asked Don, slowly coming down from his irritation. "I recall a few instances …"

"Yeah, yeah," Danny admitted, recalling a few of his own, early … and not so early … forays into inappropriate comedic routines. "So, beyond the rook, what's lit your tail feathers?"

Revealing some real irritation Don answers, "Beyond the fact that I'm freezing my ass off out here trying to keep things in line when I need to be inside doing my freakin' job so I actually have enough that I can write a report with that doesn't make it look like I'm the first year rookie?" Danny nodded having been there himself. "I get a call from Adam last night." At Danny's suddenly alarmed look he said, "Not that kinda call. He was letting me know that Emi the Cookie Goddess had gotten a visit from our absentee Intern yesterday; the guy was picking up some artwork from their house … and don't we need to have a few words with those two kids about having strangers over to their house. Anyway, the intern lets slip he's pretty sure he recognizes our vic as a drama student from NYU. Emi told him to go see somebody about that only he never does; and I checked both the precinct and your offices to make sure. Gettin' the feeling that I'm being avoided I make an extra special trip this morning to drop by to see Mr. Intern only I'm told he hasn't come in yet. So I leave my card, walk out in this god-awful sleet, get half way back to my car – which I had to park several blocks away because of this damn construction – when that assistant to the manager comes screaming after me that there's another dead body. Top of her lungs, middle of the sidewalk, full on hysterics, telling the world. Then she falls down in the slush and cracks her head where upon she gets even loopier cause she's bleedin' like a stuck pig. Can you guess how much fun it was to keep the lookie lous out until I could get some back up and calm things down?"

"That's rough," Danny told him in complete sympathy and understanding. Neither man was fond of the drama, it was part of the job but it was one of the parts they hated the most. "But it looks like you got things handled. Mac already here?"

"Yeah. So's Adam and Hawkes."

"Hawkes I get but why's Adam here?"

"Before the body is moved Mac wants pictures … lotta damn pictures from what I could see. He was askin' for you."

"Mac?"

"No. Adam."

Don turned to answer some questions by a uniformed officer who'd come slipping and sliding over to them and Danny waved to let Don know he was heading into the building. He didn't have to wonder where the body was because as soon as he got beyond the glass doors he heard Adam bellow, "Stop! Out! Now! I don't care what your boss told you or what he wants! MY boss is in charge of this crime scene and he gets what he wants before your boss gets a damn thing! And I swear, one more person touch something, move something, walk in my crime scene and I'll have you arrested!"

"For what?! Doing our job?"

"Interfering with an investigation!"

"Pig!"

"Prima Donna! Use your head for something other than a place to stick that wig! You've got make up on your hands and you're putting your dirty prints on things you touch!" The prima donna in question was a young man that appeared to be in the middle of a costume change. For a moment Danny wondered where Mac was and why Adam was having to deal with things on his own.

Adam spotted Danny and there was real relief on his face. Through gritted teeth Adam asked, "Detective Messer, could we get a perimeter on the crime scene?"

Danny got his extra special, time-to-chew-up-the-rookies look on his face and turned to the tightly grouped young uniforms. Walking over to them, some of whom already knew him by reputation, he asked, "Ladies? Did you not cover this at the academy?" From there things proceeded much more smoothly with the Captain himself arriving before heading over to Mac.

Before Mac even had to give him much more than a look the captain said, "Shigella."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Whole damn precinct is contaminated with the stuff. Had to be one of those kids that came in with the hookers a couple of days ago."

"I heard about that," Mac said with a nod.

"Yeah. They were all over the place and that's how it musta started. We've got the decon unit going over everything but that's like shutting the barn door after the animals have gotten out. I started getting people calling in during the night shift. On top of it we had a situation down in Manhattan … man cracks and takes his whole office hostage. I had to make a choice where to send who and I needed experienced cops for the hostages."

"Well that explains only getting the rookies for their crime scene," Mac thought after the man went over with a chair to help Danny's whip as they tried to give the rookies some fast on-the-job crowd control training. For a moment Mac regretted putting Adam on the spot for his own bit of surreptitious training, but only for a moment; he'd actually handled it well considering the circumstances. And that is what he explained to Hawkes and Danny when they asked him a few minutes later.

Mac left to go speak with the excitable theater manager leaving Hawkes and Danny to keep an eye on Adam. Hawkes shook his head and muttered, "Trial by fire."

"And nine will get you ten that Adam figures it out as soon as he puts his hair out. Man he looks hot … and not in a good way."

Hawkes looked around before saying, "He's tired. Emi … didn't have a good night."

"She sick?"

"No. He wouldn't say anything beyond that so maybe you can get it out of him."

"I'll try. Gettin' Adam to talk ain't always easy though. So, bring me up to speed. Who's our vic?"

"The intern; James Wright. Cause of death is blunt force trauma; however, it isn't due to a fall down the stairs as was staged."

"Staged? You getting into puns now?"

Hawkes gave a brief smile before saying, "Yes, it is a little unfortunate but that's exactly what appears to have occurred. He was found at the bottom of the stairs behind the stage that lead down to a mechanical space for moving props; but, we found blood splatter and cast off in the dressing area."

"Which explains all of the half-dressed people milling about. I take it today was one of them dress rehearsals."

"Correct. The theater manager is absolutely wigging out."

Danny winced at the second pun but didn't do anything but ask, "Samples and evidence?"

"Already collected … at least what hasn't been contaminated by the …" Hawkes nodded in the direction of the actors and actresses now being kept in one central location outside of the immediate crime scenes.

Danny nodded and then went to go check on Adam. "How ya doin' there Buddy?"

Adam had jerked around at the sound of someone approaching and had a ferocious look on his face until he saw who it was. "Oh … it's you. Er … sorry, that didn't come out right."

"Not a problem man. Need some help?"

"I got it," he sighed. "Besides Mac … uh …"

"Here's a word to the wise … sometimes getting the job done means being able to delegate. So delegate already. You ain't gonna hurt my feelings."

Adam sagged with relief. "Actually I need someone with some clout that can get those people to give up their fingerprints without someone yelling 'pig' or something equally as stupid and then making me have to take time to get a court order. Time is something I'm already going to need a lot of to get all of the fingerprints I've gathered scanned in and I need to be able to exclude or include them for identification purposes."

"Take it what appears to be the primary crime scene is a mess."

"And then some. Make up, biologicals … and some of those might surprise you what they are, fibers, hair … I'm going to be two weeks just cataloguing it all."

"Nah. We'll all pitch in. Let's just go through it and make sure we've got it tagged properly and then you can go play King of the Lab Rats and put the techs to work. Just if you've had anything to do with any of the uniforms make sure you take extra precautions." He then proceeded to explain about the Shigella outbreak down at the precinct.

"Oh joy. That's all I need to bring home from work. Dammit. Don't people know how to use hand sanitizer?!"

Knowing Adam was a bit of a germophobe Danny shrugged. "Hey … sometimes kids are just disgusting."

"It's not the kids I'm talking about. Cops. They go through almost as many latex gloves as we do and still forget to use the damn sanitizer dispensers in the office. I've watched them. Hookers, drug users, blood, and puke … and that's just what comes in during …" Adam shuddered. "Never mind. Thanks for the warning."

"Not a prob, let's just get this done. The ME's van just showed up and it's that cranky broad the City just sent down to help Sid out."

"The one that might be gunning for Sid's job?"

"Yeah. You get that feeling too?"

"Yeah. I think Jo is handling it however."

Both men grinned and no explanations were necessary.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Adam had driven to the scene straight from home so had his car. Danny arranged for Hawkes to take his ride, containing most of the evidence, back to the office while he came in with Adam. Mac didn't object because he knew that Danny would feel Adam out … about what went down at the crime scene as well as what else was on his mind.

Opening the conversation, but keeping it casual, Danny said, "So … Flack said you were looking for me. Anything besides what went on at the scene?"

Adam rolled his neck preparing himself. Danny noted it and got a little concerned before asking, "Business or personal?"

"Uh … I think I might have screwed up back in Vegas." Catching a glimpse of Danny's face Adam yelped, "Not that way! I just mean … I had plans for Vegas. With Emi. I … I was gonna take her looking at rings and … you know …" Adam sighed. "I thought we might even … get … get married before we came home. Only my brother managed to throw it all into the crapper and … and then I screwed up not making time to … to …"

Danny nodded his understanding. "Ok, so you do it now. Unless something is stopping you."

A little disconsolately Adam told him, "Nothing I can put my finger on exactly. I just … I'm getting a feeling that Emi …" Shaking his head he growled, "I don't know if I'm moving too fast, too slow … too hot, too cold … too much of one thing and not another … I … I just know it's something."

"You worried that Charlie is coming between you two?"

"Huh?! Uh uh. No way. See that's what has me scratching my head. Emi is all about the Charlie and Adam thing. I was worried that I'd have time to do it right … but … well she's making it so easy and … only I'm … I'm getting the feeling that maybe she … maybe she doesn't think I … thinks maybe I don't want to do the Adam and Emi thing as much as before … or maybe … hell, I don't know. I just know it's something. And that's on top of her having problems with this being the first Christmas without Reni. Look, when you and Lindsey had Lucy … and I know it isn't exactly the same thing … but … but did things change? Or did … you know … do something to let Lindsey know that you weren't with her just because of Lucy?"

Danny started to see it. "Oh man, did we have problems … and they started before Lucy was even born. You know, I asked her to marry me right after I found out she was pregnant. She said no."

"Wait … what?! But …"

"Yeah. I wasn't able to convince her until right before she went out to visit her parents."

"Yeah, I remember. Kinda a surprise thing and Mac and Stella were your witnesses. For the next week people had to make sure you didn't run into any of the glass walls at the lab 'cause you were really flying high … and worried about Lindsey and the baby and what her parents were going to say."

"Yeah," Danny said with a slow grin brought on by treasured memories. Turning back to Adam he asked, "You really serious about marrying the girl?"

"Oh yeah," Adam said to Danny, leaving no doubt he meant it. "I was waiting until … but look, I thought about it. If I'm waiting until Emi and I have everything all figured out and perfect, I'll be waiting freaking forever. I think Emi and I are about as fixed as we're ever going to get. My past. Her past. There's no changing it. And since it is what brought us together … I'm not saying I want to repeat it but … but I can't dig up a lot of regret that it is what brought us together. But now, there's Charlie. And I know what everyone is saying, that it would be a lot easier to get custody of him if Emi and I were married. I just don't want Emi to think that's the only reason … or the primary reason … I want to marry her."

"Man, you definitely got your work cut out for you. But … and you may not want to hear this … it might not be a bad idea to keep on waiting."

"Why?" Adam asked. He wasn't angry or disappointed, he simply wanted to know.

"Because there _is_ Charlie; and Emi _is_ dealing with painful memories right now. And you have been dealing with some high pressure messes the last few months. And … yeah … sounds like you need to know for sure that she'd say yes for all the right ones instead of it being just because that's what you want her to say."

Adam relaxed. Danny got it. The last thing that he wanted was for Emi to say yes only because that's what he wanted her to say. And he had his own visions of repeating the Emi-Gary-Reni thing that wound up with so much pain.

"Thanks."

"You sure?"

Adam shrugged. "I wanted advice. You gave it. I knew you weren't my fairy godmother when I asked you so … not like you're going to wave a magic wand to fix things."

# # # # # # # # # #

Later that day Mac and Jo were discussing the case in his office. Jo looked through the glass at Adam who hadn't seemed to sit still for more than a few seconds since he and Danny came into the lab. "Busy little beaver. How'd he do in the field?"

"Better than expected given the circumstances. He came close to losing it a couple of times but pulled himself back. I think Danny had to give him a couple of pointers on delegation but again, to be expected as he's never been lead on a scene before. Overall, I'm pleased. Have you been down to virtopsy to see the crime scene?"

"Yep, both of them. I agree that it started in the dressing area. Looks like the body was then dragged to the stairs, stood up, then allowed to fall down the stairs to make it look like he tripped. Sid said it was a good cover up. The secondary damage covered up the original head trauma. A casual observer might think that the alcohol found in our vic's system caused him to lose his footing on the stairs."

"As good as the cover up may have been, it shows carelessness or inexperience to have missed the blood splatter in the dressing area. And given the time of death based on liver temp it may have been because it was dark in the room at the time and they didn't want to bring notice to themselves by turning on lights. The nighttime security detail reported that they saw nothing unusual."

"Maybe they were sitting around drinking coffee, not doing their jobs?"

Mac shook his head. "I don't believe that to be the case. Time stamped security footage shows every guard walking his assigned route and checking doors, both interior and exterior. Whoever did this knows the theater lay out and knows it well."

At that moment Don Flack appeared at Mac's office door. "First vic's name is Elizabeth Eaton, aged twenty-two, former drama student at NYU. No one reported her missing because she left New York to head to Burbank, California for a job in a soap opera for the summer. Apparently she never let any of her former acquaintances know she was back in town … or at least none that have admitted to it. But get this, she was the original understudy for the actress who is playing Olivia Toms in that play about her life. She was also the one that did the original designs for the costumes for the play. I'm betting the one she was wearing when she died was a prototype or whatever you want to call it. That'd explain why the theater manager – Mr. Pain in the Ass Montague – thought it was one of the ones currently in use."

"I take it you've had another run-in with the manager," Mac asked, noting Flack's very real anger at the mention of the man's name.

"He called the Mayor's office. Apparently some kid the Mr. Mayor is related to the long ass way around has some bit part in the play." Rolling his neck to release the tension he apologized. "Pardon my French. It has been one hell of a day and it don't look to get any better. Jamie called in sick."

Jo's eyes widened and said, "Uh oh."

"Yeah, uh oh so that's why I'm standing out here in the hall instead of coming in. I'm showering in sanitizer but … just dammit, we don't need this right now. And do me a favor and tell Danny and Adam to be careful so they don't take this stuff home. Got a call from Officer Beckham's husband … he had to take her and both his kids to the ER a couple of hours ago … she's 7 months pregnant, already on desk duty, and this shit just ain't … she might lose the baby and you know they been trying like hell for three years to get knocked up."

Jo put a hand over her mouth in horror and Mac got a very serious look on his face before asking, "Do they need anything?"

"So far we got it covered. Some people from the other precincts have stepped it up. We'll return the favor when it's needed. But here's the thing, the Captain is beginning to think maybe them hookers did it on purpose. Or maybe it was their pimp. It was already suspicious why they'd bring them kids with 'em … ain't exactly a profession where you bring your kids to work if you know what I mean … and a little birdie that owed Wesoslowski said he'd heard some of the girls talkin' like it was a good joke."

Adam had come up just in time to hear the last and said, "Whoa … that's all this city needs … biological warfare."

"Aw man," Flack said backing up. "Don't even. And stay back, I could be contagious."

Adam stepped back but only so he could grab something off of a cart he was pushing. He handed two boxes to Flack and said, "Merry Christmas."

Flack read their labels and immediately opened both boxes. First he put on a pair of latex gloves and next he put a paper surgical mask on. "Thanks," came his reply, muffled by the mask. "We're already out down at the precinct. We're getting more but …"

When he started walking away Adam said, "Hang on." He tossed the man a bottle of sports drink. "And keep someone on speed dial just in case. I called Emi and she said this stuff hits …"

Flack suddenly paled and then turned and practically sprinted to the bathroom.

"… fast."

Mac pinched the bridge of his nose but before he could say anything Adam told him, "I already have all of the lab techs wearing standard PPE as if we'd had some kind of contamination and Kendall is supervising sanitizing the common areas like the breakroom as well as the work stations like EDNA and all of the microscopes, etc. Call went out and Building Maintenance is notifying everyone on the other floors and putting signs in the elevators and stairwells, and everyone is calling their cleaning staff to try and stop this stuff in its tracks. We're making up 1:9 bleach solution as needed to kill off any contamination but it is going to slow down getting test results."

"Do it anyway," Mac said. "Just make sure that no cross contamination of evidence occurs."

"We've already locked everything down. Shigella doesn't live long outside the body so as long as we don't re-contaminate from other sources the lab should be ok.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

"Uh uh Charlie," Adam told the boy to stop him from jumping on him like he normally did first thing he walked through the door. "Sorry, not this time Buddy. Let me go take a good shower and clean up, then I'll tell you a bedtime story or something. I might have groady germs on me and I don't want to give them to you. Babe maybe I should sleep down in the …"

Despite hearing about the outbreak of shigella Emi gave Adam "the look."

"But Babe …"

"Go take a shower. Use the disinfectant soap that I had to use in the hospital. If that stuff doesn't kill the germs nothing will. You might want to wear goggles or something to keep it out of your …"

"… eyes." Adam said with a tired grin remembering the time that Emi had gotten it into hers and wound up looking like she had a case of Pink Eye.

Charlie piped up and said very seriously, "All you gotta do is call Emimi real loud. She's good at getting soap out of your eyes. But don't stomp around or you could slip and fall and break your bum or sumpin'. You need me to wash your hair Uncle Da?"

Adam laughed. "No Little Buddy, I think I got it. But I'll be really, really careful just like you say. Okay?"

"Okay. Can you tell me about the monster at the end of the book again? That's soooo cool. I thought it was scary but you make it funny. And you sound just like Grover."

"Welllll … did you eat all of your dinner?"

"Uh huh." At a look from Emi he changed it to a polite, "Yes Sir."

"Hmmmm. Did you pick up the toys you played with?"

Proudly Charlie said, "Yes Sir!"

"Did you mind Emi?"

Charlie looked worriedly over at Emi but she said, "Pretty much. Nobody is perfect."

Adam figured he'd hear about it so he let it go and said, "Wellllll, all right. I suppooooose. If I gotta."

He sounded so silly that Charlie knew he was playing and ran off to get his PJs on and climb in bed to wait. Adam headed to the shower, all but dragging after the roller coaster of a day he'd had. After he climbed out and dried off he walked into Charlie's room only the little boy was fast asleep. A little disappointed but understanding that Charlie was still building his stamina since he was now allowed to play like a little boy should, Adam tucked him in while Emi watched from the doorway. Before turning out the lamp Adam took a good look at the changes that Emi had made, and was still making, to the small space. He smiled thinking he would have loved to have had a room like this at Charlie's age. The walls were painted like all the daydreams a young boy could have were coming to life.

Quietly Adam left and followed Emi down to the kitchen. "Seriously Babe, maybe I should sleep down in the basement just to be safe."

"Seriously, it probably wouldn't do any good if you've already got it. That stuff has an incubation period of a few hours to only a couple of days. I don't want it to suddenly hit you and you're down there by yourself. I'd never get you back up the stairs. Not to mention cold because we haven't run the exhaust for the fireplace yet. And there's no bathroom down there either."

"Which I'd like to change but it is going to have to wait until the ground thaws … and er …"

"Until we have the money," Emi said on a nod but it wasn't with her normal guilt or sensitivity.

Adam noticed and made a silent query as he sat down to eat a large bowl of thick homemade vegetable soup that Emi put in front of him along with a couple of homemade rolls. Instead of answering she brought him the mail and he looked through it then saw an open envelope addressed to Emi. It was postmarked Las Vegas, Nevada.

"What's this?"

She shrugged. "A commission. You can take it to the bank tomorrow with the other stuff."

She was acting too casual for Adam to miss. When she turned to do the dishes in the sink he carefully opened the envelope and took out a check. It took him a couple of seconds for the zeroes to register and when they did he inhaled the wrong way and Emi had to bang on his back so he could cough the piece of carrot back up.

When he finally caught his breath he looked at the check then looked at her, at the check, at her. He finally had to sit down and his mouth kept open and shutting but no sound came out.

With a great deal of concern Emi asked, "Is … is it …?"

"Emi, I'm just trying to figure out what to say." He looked deep into her eyes and said, "I am sooo proud of you Babe, but I don't want you to think this is the only reason I am proud of you."

Emi's face melted into a brilliant smile then she practically crawled into his lap. "Repairing that painting in that hotel lobby gave me something to do. Apparently they had the repair appraised and the insurance company said it was museum quality and didn't detract from it's value and it made them … appreciative. Even at that price they got a deal; a real restoration artist could have easily cost twice that. And now apparently kinda of adds to their mystique or something equally as crazy," she said with a chuckle. "But this isn't all. Mr. Montague showed my ideas for a new theater display to some of the theater sponsors and one of them is on the New York City Preservation Commission. They wanted to know if it was feasible … if I could create the kind of display that could be used not just in one place, but if there could be like a running story across several landmarks in the city. I told them I didn't see why not and started spouting off some ideas and … and … Adam, I think …" Emi started shaking and Adam grew a little worried until he realized it was Emi's old excitement and not upset. "Adam, by the beginning of the year I may have a contract. A … a … big one. Bigger than I've ever done before. It could last … last months or even longer. They're talking about some kind of tourist thing … each stop along the city walking trails and city landmarks there will be some type of display … and … and I'm in a small group of artists they want to commission to do it. I'll handle most of the historical and forensic details … and they're putting an app together that people can download and … it's … it's a huge project. I'll only get paid in stages but … oh Adam … I'll be helping again on a regular basis … I will." Then she burst into tears and tried to leave the kitchen but he held onto her.

"Babe … you … you sure you want me to put this in the house account?"

Drying her eyes she said, "I want you to put it your account and I want to close mine out."

"What?!" asked the very startled man.

"I … I want you to know that I trust you. For everything. I want you to stop worrying that I'm worrying about Charlie being here, about him needing you, about … about anything. I trust you Adam. Totally. You're going to be here for Charlie. You're going to be here for me. And I'm going to be here for the two of you. We're in this together." Calmly Emi added, "I'm not looking for a replacement for Reni … or … or for anyone else either. You're not Gary, Charlie isn't Reni, and I'm not Michelle … or even the same girl I was when I made the decisions I made back then. I want you to know that as much as I trust you … you can trust me right back. And … and … that I'm not upset about … stuff that we haven't done. The ground rules have been a good thing … and having to wait for other things as well. It's given us both time we needed. If it eventually happens, it does. But I've decided. The only way you are getting rid of me is if you physically toss me out and since I trust you aren't going to do that then you aren't going to get rid of me. We'll get around to the rest of it when the time is right and we'll know when that is. No one or nothing is going to rush us." She fell silent for a moment the asked, "Did I cover it all? All the worry things?"

All Adam could do was look at her in amazement for a moment before saying, "There are so many things I want … with you … for you … for us. Charlie is part of that. I … I talked to that lawyer your lawyer recommended. He thinks … Babe … he thinks so long as my brother doesn't oppose it and no one else opposes it, he thinks we can start …" Adam swallowed nervously. "Can start adoption proceedings after the first of the year rather than wait. He thinks we should strike while the iron is hot. And something kind of spooky happened. My brother called me right as I was getting to my car to come home. That's why I'm so late."

"What did _he_ want?" Emi asked suspiciously, fairly certain that Charles Ross III would never be her favorite person.

"He … he actually wanted to know if I would be willing to switch places … he'd be the uncle that maybe only called every so often and I'd be … I'd be Charlie's father. Apparently he's seeing a counselor in prison … and not court ordered either. Part of it is he doesn't want to look at having to face a lot of responsibility when he eventually gets out. He never wanted kids, said he never wanted to live like we did growing up; he wants to be free of all of it and the bad memories that it brings him."

"Jerk."

Adam snorted. "Yeah. He is. I see it even if you don't think I do. But I think he is serious about this. He called me a fool for taking care of our father and for taking on Charlie but that if I wanted to be a fool that he wasn't against taking advantage of it. But when he said it … Babe … he … he wasn't always a complete ass when we were growing up. I could … look I heard something in his voice that he couldn't fake. I don't know. I'm going to stay on guard but … but maybe this won't be so impossible after all. Just don't think any less of me okay?"

"I can never and will never think of you as anything other than my hero."

Adam nuzzled her neck before admitting, "Oh I've got it in me to be an ass so don't crank that pedestal up too high. See, here's the thing, if he's really thinking of giving up Charlie, I'm going to push him and take advantage of him." A hard look came into Adam's eyes. "Charlie is ours, he belongs with us. I felt it from that first night. When I saw you holding him and rocking him when he got so scared. Even if we get lucky and have kids between us Charlie is still ours. We're family … a real family."

Emi reached out her hand and gently cupped Adam's bearded cheek. "Yes he is. And yes we are."


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

The next day Adam left for work so early that Charlie was still sleeping. The little boy moped all morning and barely picked at his lunch. Emi was wondering what to do when the phone rang and it was Lindsey.

 _"_ _ARGH!"_

"Lindsey? Uh …"

 _"_ _Do you have any idea where I can get a princess costume?"_

"A what?"

 _"_ _The little girl that was supposed to be the princess in Lucy's classroom play is down sick with chicken pox. So after spending all that time and energy on a flower costume now I have to come up with a princess costume only I don't have time to come up with a princess costume because I have to work a double tomorrow and I only have the rest of today to find one. ARGH!"_

"Oh no," Emi grimaced.

 _"_ _And according to my precious and oh so strong-willed daughter it has to be a REAL princess costume. Not a party dress. Not a Halloween costume from the thrift store. Not even a flower girl's dress like I found at the thrift store. Oh no, it simply must be a REAL princess costume. Plus … with the right kind of sparkles. I spoke with her teacher and they don't have any 'real princess costumes with sparkles' left in storage. Pleeeeease tell me you have a contact or something someplace with someone. But please tell me it won't cost an arm and a leg either. Danny almost flipped on what we already spent on the flower costume."_

"Well, I … maybe … yeah. I might need to add a ruffle on the hem but … you have time to drop by?"

 _"_ _How about I'm around the corner and was praying you'd be able to come up with something. Plus Luke needs a change and to be fed."_

Emi chuckled. "Ok, see you in a few."

Less than a half hour later there was a knock on the door and Lindsey walked in with a very disgruntled Lucy in tow. Emi told the little girl, "Your lip is going to pick up all sorts of nasty stuff if you keep dragging it around like that."

She crossed her arms and said, "I want a real princess costume. Not a pretend one, a real one."

Lindsey apologized. "I don't know what has gotten into her lately. I'm honestly thinking of putting her back in the daycare at work for another year and then just sending her straight to kindergarten. The stuff she is learning at the preschool ..."

Emi could tell that Lucy was on the verge of twanging her mother's last nerve but then Lindsey looked up, blinked, and smiled. "Hi, look who it is. How are you doing?"

Charlie was looking down from the stairwell and froze for a moment after getting caught. It appeared to be the last thing he wanted to do but he came down and stuck out his hand and quickly said, "How do you do? My name is Charlie Ross. I'm fine thank you." Then he ducked behind Emi and peeped around her.

Lindsey acted like nothing unusual had occurred and said, "I'm fine as well. Thank you for asking. This is my daughter Lucy. Emi is going to rescue us."

Only half visible Charlie offered, "She's good at that. Uncle Da said she rescued him too."

"And I'm so glad she did. Your uncle is a very, very good friend of mine. We work together."

Emi whispered, "She's Mr. Danny's wife."

Danny had managed to intrigue Charlie when they'd been at the theater. Charlie had also gotten the sense that just like the men called Mr. Mac and Mr. Don, Mr. Danny was a taker-care-of'er. Because of this Charlie relaxed a bit but was still very bashful, especially of the little girl who was openly staring at him.

To her he said, "What do you need a princess dress for? You already look like a princess."

Lucy's eyes grew huge and she slowly edged around Emi to get a better look at the ginger-haired boy standing there. He saw she was holding a book. He loved books. He pointed to it and said, "Uncle Da reads me stories all the time." Then he face fell and he added, "But not last night. And I didn't get to eat breakfast with him either."

Lucy, an old hat at having to adjust to her parents often busy schedule, told him, "It's like that sometimes. It makes them really sad so you gotta put a good face on otherwise they go into a decline."

Emi nearly whooped in laughter and even more so when she saw how red Lindsey's face grew. "I swear I don't know where she gets this stuff," she muttered.

Trying not to chuckle and spoil the moment Emi said with a straight face, "Oh how right you are Miss Lucy. However, you are here for a royal fitting and we'd best get to it. The sparkles await."

Emi took them into the parlor and there she held up two dresses. "My mother was a seamstress. She made these for my little sister."

Charlie put his hand in Emi's, sensing her sadness. For his sake she shook off the emotions that sometimes wanted to swamp her even after all this time. She cleared her throat and said, "Anyway, I think either one would fit you. Are these real enough for you?"

Lucy just stared before asking like she almost couldn't believe it, "I can wear one of these? For my play?"

It didn't take Lucy long to pick the one she wanted to wear … it had the most sparkles. Emi wouldn't even have to put a ruffle on the bottom because the teacher had cautioned all of the parents not to make any of the costume pieces tripping hazards.

Lucy was a happy, sunny girl as she and Lindsey left to head home; Lucy was even skipping now that the snow had melted. The same couldn't be said for Danny.

"Yo, Man," Danny said into his phone, trying to wait out the sound of vomit disappearing into a toilet. "C'mon Flack, just go to bed and let me do my job."

 _"_ _I'm dying. I am. And since I am I need to make sure that when I'm gone someone can take over the case where I left off."_

"You ain't dying. You're … er …"

 _"_ _Póg mo thóin," said Flack which happened to be an extremely rude curse in Gaelic. Danny was Italian so didn't understand the words … but he did get the gist of what was meant._

"Seriously Don, go to bed. And don't call again. You need to sleep this stuff off, you and Jamie both. Er … you need anything?"

 _"_ _Naw. Sam came by. She said there's been a couple of cases of this crap down at the courthouse now too. This keeps up we're going to have to shut down the City for a day or two just to catch a break."_

Danny heard Jamie moan and say in her distinctively raspy voice, "Move. Now."

On his end Flack crawled out of the bathroom into the hallway where he sat on the floor. He figured it was stupid to try and go anyplace else as he'd probably have to go right back within a few minutes.

 _"_ _Danny? Just do me a favor. Get whoever the Cac ar oineach is that did this. I don't know why this case is irritating me, but it is. It's burning a hole in my gut and that just ain't right considering what else I got going on in there."_

"Sure Flack," Danny told the man hoping he'd finally let him free of the phone. "Just you and Jamie go get some rest."

The only answer before the phone disconnected was the sound of heaving coming from inside a waste basket.

Hawkes and Adam were coming down the hall and caught the tail end of the conversation as well as the slightly nauseous look on Danny's face. Hawkes said, "Let me guess. Flack is dying and wants to make sure all of his cases are taken care of the right way when he is gone."

"Sounds like he called you too."

"He's feverish and out of it. I'm going to run by when I get off work to make sure they don't need to go to the ER for rehydration."

Danny said, "He told me Sam dropped stuff off."

Hawkes shrugged. "I'm still going to drop by. Have you seen Sid? Jo is looking for him."

"Naw. Did she try calling him?"

"Yeah, no answer. And she's worried. Sid's immune system is still compromised from the cancer treatments. He'll be especially vulnerable to any infection. If you see him, let him know that people are looking for him and to turn his phone on."

Danny nodded and headed towards Mac's office. They both asked each other at the same time, "Have you seen Sid?"

At the obvious answer, both men grew concerned. "This isn't like him," Mac said as he stood up from his desk. "I think I'll go and see what I can find down in his office." He opened his mouth to say something more when he spotted Jo.

Jo for her part looked like she could have gladly chewed a certain person's bum off. Without preamble Jo stormed into Mac's office and said, "That woman has got to go."

"What woman?"

"That … that Dr. Cheshire. She's … she's … gah!"

Concern evident Danny asked, "Did you find Sid?"

"Yes. I finally got desperate enough that I called his daughter when his wife didn't answer her phone. He had an appointment with his oncologist. Apparently Dr. Cheshire was supposed to be taking his calls while he was out – he had to have his medication port flushed after it became clogged this morning – and she was also supposed to call up here to let us know. Well there is no record of her call despite her saying she did and she said Sid never asked her to take his calls. She tried to make it look like Sid is slipping. Ooooo … I'll slip her … I'll …"

Mac cut her off. "Document it with a transcription of what she said occurred. Get a copy of the phone logs. I don't have time for this kind of behavior coming out of the ME's office."

"She's after his job Mac. You know what that would do to him?!"

"Sid's performance isn't in question right now; Dr. Cheshire's is. Both our offices have enough going on without wasting time because someone is playing politics. Start a file. It will give us ammunition if we need it."

Jo started to calm. Mac was correct. Going off half-cocked wouldn't do anyone any favors. But when she registered that Mac had said "we" she was able to calm further. She gave a small smile and said, "Thanks Mac."

Mac nodded and asked, "Were you able to find anything out about our first vic?"


	17. Chapter 17

Well, it certainly has been a while since I updated this story. My apologies, it wasn't intentional. Life got very busy and I had to cut a few strings loose to have time to focus on the things that needed to be prioritized. But I'm definitely continuing this to the conclusion. So without further ado ... The Haunted Theater continues with Chapter 17.

* * *

 **Chapter 17**

Jo said, "Hawkes started on that yesterday after Don had to go home sick."

"Can you ask him to come tell me what he has thus far?"

A few moments later Sheldon Hawkes walked into Mac's office after reluctantly leaving Adam's latest permutations with the Webber equipment. "Mac."

Mac nodded in greeting. "Jo said you may have found something on Elizabeth Eaton?"

"Basically she was your typically idealistic college student that got stars in her eyes when an agent told her she had what it took after seeing her in a class theater production. She switched her major from history to drama with a concentration in costuming and set design. Then set out to California to make a name for herself after completing her undergraduate studies here and finding it more challenging to break into the theater-scene than she had financially planned for."

"Family?"

"None close. She was raised by various, distant relations of her father just because none of them wanted her to go into the foster care system. Her mother was a foreign national that was here on a student visa, got pregnant by the vic's father and then got disowned by her family and never spoke with them again. According to a great aunt, about the only time they heard from Elizabeth was once a year on the anniversary of her parents' deaths – they died in a car accident in the Catskills."

"Anyone else particularly close to her that you've been able to find?"

"At one time she and the intern, James Wright, were thought to have a relationship but there's nothing but hearsay to support that and I'm not sure how much of it is merely gossip after their deaths with no real basis in fact."

"Right. So …"

"Basically we are still at square one except Lindsey utilized the Webber equipment to come up with a reconstruction of Wright's death. Adam even managed to create a physical representation that looks so much like our vic that I can see it getting repressed because it would prejudice the jury."

Hawkes' statement both intrigued and concerned Mac enough that he went to speak to Lindsey. He found her in the lab with several entry-level lab techs who were earning their stripes helping to catalog all of the fingerprints and biologicals and other trace evidence found at the Wright crime scenes.

"Where's Adam?"

Instead of a direct reply she said, "Danny explained that this is Adam's trial by fire." Mac gave her an arch look to which she said, "And no, I'm not making this easy on him on purpose. He's down in the virtopsy room cross checking that all of the evidence is locatable in the virtual reality scene."

Giving serious thought to what he'd just heard he said, "That equipment is starting to sound like it may be too much work to balance out its benefit."

"Actually he thinks he may have found a problem."

"With the equipment?"

"No. And I guess I shouldn't have called it a problem so much as an anomaly. However, it has the potential to lead to a break in the case. It has to do with the layering and timeline of when trace was laid down in the primary crime scene. It'll be easier for him to show you though."

Thinking he was starting to get all of the daily exercise his doctor and Christine could possibly want, Mac made his way to the virtopsy room and caught Adam mumbling to himself and making notes on a clip board while cross checking a table of information pulled up on a computer screen.

"Problems?" Mac asked, startling the man, causing him to jump and look around wide-eyed. Mac grinned fondly as a picture of the very young and nervous applicant for a lab position overlaid the more mature and self-assured man before him.

"Hah! Sorry Boss … I was going to come to you as soon as I made sure … oh, you must have talked to Lindsey … I should have come to you sooner. Maybe I'm not cut out for …"

"Adam, Relax," Mac said patiently. "Today has been one of those days for all of us. I'm here now so just explain the possible break in the case. We need one."

Adam stopped for a moment to gather his thoughts and to try and stop his nerves from running like wild mustangs that were stampeding out of control across the landscape. After briefly closing his eyes he opened them and Mac could tell he'd switched gears and had himself under control.

"Ok, at first I was thinking that I'd somehow messed up the data to recreate the scenes so I rechecked that. Then I thought maybe I had screwed up the trace evidence but I checked that and all was kosher. Then I rechecked the data I'd entered when Lindsey and I were doing the reconstruction of the actual crime. And that's when I found it wasn't the reconstruction, the trace, or anything else. It was the timeline of when the trace had to have been laid down."

"Lindsey said it would be easier for you to show me."

Adam nodded then motioned for Mac to follow him to a corner of the room. Suddenly a very lifelike representation of the vic appeared in the scene. Mac suspected Hawkes was correct and that some lawyers and judges would not want a jury to see this unless there was a great deal of supporting evidence and data. It freaked him out a bit how lifelike the vic looked and how realistic the injuries were represented to be upon conclusion of the reenactment.

"In both the primary and secondary crime scenes I noticed a problem. Something that shouldn't have happened if we had a clean scene. As the reconstruction was put in motion the vic laid his trace, but it was under other trace evidence; trace that we've hypothesized belongs to the perp … er … murderer. I checked everything Boss. Double checked it, triple checked it. I've had people checking my re-checks. I had Kendall go over everything and she confirmed my findings and now Lindsey is in the process of re-checking all of our re-checks."

"It seems fairly straightforward Adam, the perp overlaid some of the vic's trace at the time of the murder."

"Yeah. Except that's where the problem is highlighted the most. In several places, between the trace left by the vic and the trace we strongly suspect belongs to the murderer, there is casual trace that I've been able to pinpoint as occurring in the dressing room both immediately before and immediately after the body was discovered and have further been able to determine who were the donors from that crowd of ..." Adam's lip curled a bit in remembered angry frustration. "With the crowd of actors that were participating in the dress rehearsal."

"I take it Danny and the Captain got those in that group to give up their prints and DNA."

"And more than a couple of them were really reluctant to until they were informed they would be held until a warrant could be acquired. Turns out several of them have a record."

"Anything pertinent?"

"Nothing directly relatable. Mostly college type stuff like drunk and disorderly on campus, or getting arrested at a protest. Couple of non-violent sex crimes like getting caught with a prostitute or during a sting at a peep show. Two of them have domestic violence arrests … one of the females beat the crap out of her boyfriend at the time after catching him with another man. The other one is a juvie conviction and the record has been sealed on it. Normally I would ask Don if he could take a peek to see if it was worth pursuing further but apparently he's dying and trying to take care of business before he passes on."

With a small grin Mac said, "I take it you got a call from him too."

A little concerned Adam said, "Yeah. Some long, rambling lecture on having strangers over to the house. But he's right. Emi and I … see apartment life is different. There's usually someone around that will hear something or that has an eye on what is going on on the floor. In our old building, one door would get knocked on but four doors would open to see who was knocking. There was always people in your business and you just learned to live with it or have a nervous breakdown. But with a house it's different."

Curious Mac asked, "Any incident in particular bring this realization on?"

With a little more concern Adam admitted, "The vic – the intern James Wright – came by to pick up the duplicate artwork from Emi and take them back to the Amster. Basically just Emi doing business but in the process he told her about recognizing the original vic and Emi told him to see someone about it. I followed up with Don … who then tried to follow up with Wright when he didn't speak to anyone about ID'ing the vic … and that would up being shortly before his body was discovered. I know it's convoluted but it goes back to what Don was saying. We can't operate the way we used to, especially with Charlie in the picture. It's a lot to think about."

"Adam, Don means well."

"I know and that's why I'm listening. I just wish he hadn't had to point out the obvious."

Mac clapped Adam on the shoulder and Adam felt less like he'd screwed up badly but it was still a conversation he and Emi would need to have. Shaking it off he turned to Mac and said, "If Lindsey's findings confirm my suspicions we need to look a little closer at Wig Dude."

"Wig Dude?"

"Sorry … Malcolm Holiday. I just had a run in with the guy at the scene when he kept violating the taped off area. Really prissy, prima donna. And that's another reason why I'm having people check and re-check our findings. Just because I don't like the guy on principle doesn't mean that he did the crime. He doesn't even look like he'd be strong enough to pull off moving a man Wright's size and then staging the fall down the stairs. That means there could be an accomplice. I just don't want to screw up the trace and the timeline once this gets to court. This thing has the potential to be really sensationalized by the media. There's already been a couple of minor headlines about Olivia Toms' ghost striking from the grave."

Mac rolled his eyes. "Oh good Lord."

"Um …"

"Um?"

Adam prepared to be the messenger that got shot. "One of the … er … spookier ones was the byline of … Reed Garrett."

Mac sighed deeply. This was all this case needed. More drama.


	18. Chapter 18

_**Author's Note:** For those just now coming into this series of stories I need to clarify some things. This is the "fifth episode" of the hypothetical 10th season that never actually happened. For the most part each "episode" can be read independently of the others but reading them in order does help, especially with regard to the OC Dr. Emerald O'Ryan and Adam Ross' nephew whose full name is Charles Adam Ross. Little Charlie's existence was introduced in Episode 4 which was a crossover with CSI:Las Vegas and being written with another author. Unfortunately that episode is on hiatus as the other author has been unable to continue. I may try and continue it at some future point but it will require a significant rewrite to substitute for an OC that belongs to the other author and who was an integral story/plot as we had it planned. The little bit of the story that did make it to print here on Fanfiction would help with the boy's backstory if you are so inclined to read it. I have the outline for at least two additional episodes in this series and there's potential for an epilogue type story. So long as people read, I'll continue to write. If you have a moment, dropping a line in a review would motivate me as well. LOL._

 _The order of the stories in this series is:_

Episode 1: _Missing Heart_ (CSI:NY) - first episode of a hypothetical season 10, complete. Adam's life suddenly takes a turn down a dark road. While he struggles to come to terms with the aftermath the team must investigate a series of gruesome murders perpetuated by the Missing Heart Killer.

Episode 2: _Rules of Engagement_ (CSI:NY) - second episode of a hypothetical season 10, setting NYC, complete. Life is getting better for Adam and Emi but both have issues from their respective paths that seem to be throwing up roadblocks. The crime in this episode involves a notorious case from Emi's past called the Ying Yang Murders.

Episode 3: _Buried Above Ground_ (CSI:NY) - third episode of a hypothetical season 10, setting New Orleans, complete. This episode continues the kidnapping arc from episode 2. Special guest appearance by Stella Bonasera.

Episode 4: _Bridget Over Troubled Water_ (CS/CSI:NY crossover) - coauthored with CSIFanRider, posted by CSIFanRider, (on hiatus). Adam and Emi are in Las Vegas to attend a tech conference where Adam's goal is to become the beta tester for several pieces of software and hardware he is convinced would greatly enhance the New York Crime Lab's capabilities. Adam also has special plans for he and Emi but life intervenes in unexpected ways that will significantly influence the rest of their lives. Crime investigated is Adam's brother's involvement in a gambling ring.

Episode 5: _The Haunted Theater_ (CSI:NY) - fifth episode in a hypothetical season 10, setting NYC, in progress. Back in New York and before Adam's family can even go home he and the team are called to an unusual murder scene and an even more unusual victim.

* * *

 **Chapter 18**

Mac returned to his office and performed an online search, stopping once he found Reed's article on the murders. Surprisingly it wasn't in the crime section of the newspaper where he'd been hired to work, but in the human interest section. Based on the intro for the article Mac also realizes that Reed is no longer an employee of the newspaper, but a freelance writer.

Sadly Mac admitted to himself that his relationship with Reed had become tenuous. In college Reed had gone searching for information on his birth mother, desperate enough to stalk Stella Bonasera when he had thought mistakenly that she was Claire, Mac's first wife. Now having graduated from college and having come to terms with his biological mother's fate, Reed had turned back to his adoptive family for his primary social support. Mac and Reed remained in contact but nowhere near to the extent that they had in the beginning. Still, Mac felt that he should have known that Reed was no longer working directly for the newspaper; the young man had been incredibly excited when he'd gotten the job. Even without the murder case Mac wanted to know what had happened.

Calling the phone number he had for Reed he was more disturbed to find out that it had been disconnected. Mac immediately left the lab and headed for Reed's apartment. Finding Reed's apartment to now be rented to a young couple who had no idea what his forwarding address was Mac did the only thing he knew to do and that was to make contact with Reed's adoptive family.

It was later than he was particularly comfortable with coming to someone's home unannounced but his concern for Reed conquered his reticence and he knocked on the door. Maggie Garrett, Reed's adoptive mother, answered and in surprise gave a tired smile, "Mac!"

"I know this is probably …" Mac was embarrassed and it made him a little stiff but the kind and understanding woman had figured Mac out soon after her son had shown such an interest in the man.

"Looking for Reed?"

"Yes," Mac said in relief when he noted Maggie's relaxed facial expression. "Would it be possible for you to get a message to him? I'm … I'm rather sorry to say that … well …"

At that moment the young man in question came from the rear of the house. "Mac! Is … is everything ok?"

"It is now that I've seen you."

Maggie Garrett patted her son on the shoulder and suggested, "Take Mac to the back stoop. I'll go sit with him a spell."

"You sure? You haven't even had dinner yet." Reed asked.

"Go," she said while physically turning her son in the direction she'd indicated before going back down the hall that Reed had appeared from.

Both Mac and Reed were silent while the young man led the way out back. "You don't mind being out here?"

"Of course not, but is everything ok?"

Reed opened his mouth then slowly closed it and sat down on the wicker furniture that was artfully arranged to face a garden that was obviously dormant for the season. "Not … not really. My … my dad … he's been ill."

Mac sat as well and reading the signals on Reed's face asked sympathetically, "How ill?"

Quietly Reed said, "He had what they thought was a heart attack at work three months ago. But when they started running tests it turned out not to be a heart attack but pericarditis. He'd just gotten over the flu but …"

"The influenza virus can attack many organs of the body; it's not just a lung congestion problem."

"Yeah. That's exactly what they say happened. Dad had some kind of weird immunological event and … and it was close. He's finally turned the corner but … but …" Reed's eyes filled with unshed tears as he looked away. "He's weak and … and it is going to be a long time before the doctors are willing to say that he is out of the woods. Even then he might need a heart transplant if the heart muscle develops too much scar tissue as it heals." Reed groaned and put his hands over his face. "I'm sorry I haven't called Mac. I … I didn't mean to worry you. Things have just been insane."

With absolute conviction Mac told Reed, "Don't apologize. I should have made more of an effort. I just didn't want to interfere with you renewing your relationship with your parents and frankly creating tensions that didn't need to be there. Your father didn't exactly appreciate my connection to the case that almost got you killed."

Reed slowly relaxed realizing that Mac wasn't the type to lie just to make him feel better so what he was saying was true. "I kinda knew that's what you were doing. Mom even said something to that effect one time when Dad made an offhand comment that upset me. My looking for my bioparents upset him more than it did Mom and he's still sensitive to it." Reed ran his hand through his hair. "I've honestly thought about calling you but Dad is so … he's having a hard time with what's happened to him. Geez, he's spent almost his whole life in construction and working with his hands. Now he barely has the energy to lift his hands off the bed, much less lift anything else. He's on oxygen and all of this other crap. Sometimes he … sometimes he doesn't remember things or doesn't know where he's at or why he's like he is and he freaks out a bit. Sometimes he has delusions. We know it is because his heart is struggling to push the oxygen through his body but knowing why he is acting like he is doesn't make it any easier. They couldn't handle him at the rehab place he went to after the hospital released him so Mom brought him home but he's just too much for her to handle on her own here. My sisters do what they can but they've all got families and little kids and can't be here 24/7."

Figuring it out Mac said, "You quit your job at the newspaper and moved home to help."

Reed glanced up and said, "You really have been looking for me I guess."

Irritated at how he'd allowed so much time to slip by Mac said, "I should have been keeping up with you all along." Looking at his de facto step son he asked, "Are you ok?"

Reed thought about it and said, "I'm better than I was. I have to be. I suppose you think like everyone else, that it would be better if Dad went into an assisted living situation … at least until he stabilized more."

Mac shook his head. "What I think, if it matters, is that I would give a whole lot if I had spent this kind of time with my own father when he got sick. My mother certainly could have used the help. You're a good son Reed. Keep doing what you think is right."

Whether he meant to or not Mac had just removed some of the pressure that Reed was feeling. He straightened his spine and cleared his throat before asking, "What were you needing to ask me about?"

"I … uh …"

"If you called the newspaper it must have been about one of the articles that I sold. Which one?"

Admitting silently that Reed was perceptive, much like Claire had been, Mac answered, "Your story on the Olivia Toms murders caught the eye of Adam Ross. Remember him?"

"Yeah. Senior technician at the lab. What about the story? Oh wait … not the original Toms story, you mean that you're investigating the recent murders at the Amster."

"Correct. I read your story. It was good; just a little different from your usual style. Would it do any good to ask where you got the background on our two vics?"

More uncomfortable than he wanted to admit Reed said, "The editor told me he'd only buy the story if it was lurid enough to grab his readers' attention."

"So the background was false."

"No, but you'd consider it hearsay. I knew Elizabeth before she changed majors … or I should rephrase that; we weren't particularly close but had some mutual friends. She and James were both a few years behind me but for a while we were all hanging with the same group because we crossed paths so often at the library late at night studying. I called a couple of old friends, got a few stories, then made contact with a couple of them that had also known James Wright. I just strung things together then added some interesting adjectives and question marks to try and get the reader involved in the mystery." In disgust he added, "Not the type of journalism I want to do but right now it helps to pay the bills." Seeing Mac's look he said, "Insurance is paying all the medical expenses and even some home health care assistance, but it is taking all of my parents' savings to pay for everything else. Dad isn't that far off from retiring but …"

Sympathetically Mac told him, "I've heard that story more than once. Lived it for a while after the shooting. My 401K is just now getting off of life support."

Reed nodded sadly, "Yeah. I guess you do understand. I just hope Dad can … can … you know come out of it the way you did." Suddenly wincing Reed said, "Man, I haven't even asked how Christine is."

They spoke of casual things that nevertheless caught them both up with each other's lives and made them feel more connected. Then it was time for Mac to leave because he knew Christine would be leaving the restaurant soon. "Reed, I'm not going to ask for your sources but if you could spare the notes for your story? I'd like to add it to the sum total of what we know of the vics."

"Of course and I'll go one better. I'll call my sources myself and I'm sure none of them will have problems coming forward if you need them to. People really liked Elizabeth, I know I did, what little I did know of her. And I got the same impression about James. People in our old circle of friends really want to know what happened. Elizabeth just dropped off the face of the planet, I haven't even been able to find where she actually did any work out in California. James was a little screwy but was supposed to have been a good guy; he looked all MBA on the outside but, but as one of the women I spoke to said, was 'sweet and quirky' under the business suit."

"You're really going with sweet and quirky?" Mac asked with a teasing grin.

Reed had an answering grin when he said, "Notice that I did not use those words in the article. Seriously Mac, all I heard from those I spoke with was that they were both just nice people that were never anything but a call away if someone needed a favor. If I've got anything that can help find who did this to them, it's yours."


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

Later that night Emi woke up suddenly with a catch in her throat, like she'd woken from a bad dream. She wasn't sure why but it disturbed her enough that she quietly got out of bed without disturbing Adam to go get a drink of water from the kitchen and calm herself down. In a habit that had come back after Charlie came to live with them, Emi started to go downstairs by way of the boy's bedroom to make sure the child in her care was sleeping soundly. Only he wasn't there. She stopped for a moment trying to make sure she wasn't having the old nightmare of looking for Reni but being unable to find her. She started shaking when she couldn't deny that she was fully awake and Charlie was missing. That's when she heard something at the bottom of the stairs. Looking over the banister she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Charlie struggling with the baby gate.

She kicked off her house slippers and flew down the stairs to ask what he needed only to discover the child in near tears. "I'm … I'm sorry Emimi. I made a mess."

"Shhhh. It's okay Sprout," she said calling him by a nickname that seemed to fit and tickle his fancy at the same time. "What mess are you … Charlie! You're burning up!"

Emi wasn't sure what his temperature was but it was high enough that the heat literally radiated off of him. She scooped the young boy up and raced with through the hall to the downstairs bathroom and started drawing a bath to put the boy into.

"I made a mess in the kitchen. I was just firsty. So firsty," the boy whimpered.

"Cover your ears Love, Emi needs to yell for your Uncle."

They'd discovered Charlie was sensitive to loud voices. They weren't yet certain if it was physical or psychological but they took the time to be careful either way.

When Adam heard Emi's yell he woke up immediately thinking maybe her gremlins had gotten her. Gremlins nearly got him when he forgot about the baby gate at the top of the stairs, hopping over it just in time to keep from crashing into it. He nearly tripped again as he wound up skipping a couple of stairs in the dark. Luckily Emi had left the bottom gate open and he only grazed it with his knee.

"Emi?!"

"Bathroom! Grab some face cloths out of the linen closet and one of the old quilts from the top shelf!"

Knowing Emi wouldn't ask for something so specific without a good reason he grabbed them then dashed to the bathroom. He stopped short and then paled when he saw his nephew in the tub looking very ill. He was a rosy red over most of his visible body but around his mouth, nose, and eyes he was nearly white.

Emi took the rags from Adam and told him to leave the quilt outside the door temporarily. Reading his mind Emi told Adam, "This isn't shigella. I know what that looks like when the family that used to live on the third floor got it … that was before you moved into the building. And I don't think it is chicken pox either, the incubation period hasn't been long enough for any possible exposure. He does have a rash but it looks like heat rash rather than anything more specific. We need to get his fever down though." Starting to wet the cloths in the lukewarm water and lay them across Charlie's back and neck she added, "He said something about a mess in the kitchen that I haven't had time to check out. Can you …?"

"Emi?"

Noting that Adam was getting that panicky twitch around his eyes she told him calmly, "Adam, we're going to take care of him. He'll be fine. I know what to do for a fever. 'K? Reni used to get them all the time. While you're in the kitchen can you grab the child first aid kit at the top of the pantry? I want to get him started on alternating doses of ibuprofen and acetaminophen."

In the end it was Adam who stayed with Charlie while Emi went to the kitchen. There was a mess, but it was a small one easily cleaned up, where Charlie had tried to pour himself a glass of milk. "Poor Sprout," Emi said shaking her head. "With that fever if he did get any milk in him …"

"Emi!" Adam interrupted her thought with a shout.

Emi ran back to find that Charlie was vomiting the milk he'd tried to drink and behind it came everything else he'd eaten for dinner. It took a while but they finally got Charlie, themselves, and the bathroom cleaned up and then put the miserably embarrassed little boy to bed in clean sheets where he promptly fell into an exhausted sleep after being assured for the umpteenth time that nothing, not even getting sick all over the bathroom and his Uncle Da, would make them give him up. Thankfully the fever was already beginning to creep down. Emi wasn't sure that it would stay down since they weren't sure of the source so she decided to sit by his bed to keep an eye on him for what little was left of the night.

"Go to bed Adam. You have to work a double tomorrow … today … in a couple of hours I mean."

Adam was showing his stubborn streak when he said, "No. Charlie is sick and you are supposed to have that meeting with that …"

"Adam. The meeting is by teleconference and is nowhere near as important as the murder case you are investigating. They need you."

"Charlie needs me."

"Yes he does. But I'll tell you something I once overheard Da saying to my brother that I didn't understand for a long time; until I figured out I wouldn't really be able to count on … count on … Gary … to help with Reni or anything else of any substance. See Da said that being the head of house sometimes felt as much a curse as it did a blessing. You have to be tough and strong even when you don't want to be; have to know when to leave as much as you know when to stay. It wasn't that he ever wanted to leave me when I'd get sick, when any of us got sick or hurt, but he had a duty and an obligation to the whole family and his job that fed the family. And it is only in hindsight that I understand just how hard it was for him to sometimes leave things in Ma's hands."

Adam leaned back against the wall and said, "This sucks. The first time the little guy really needs me and I'm bugging out on him."

"What do you mean the first time? Adam, you've been there for Charlie from the first moment you laid eyes on him … before that even since you didn't ignore the phone call that brought him to your attention. The two of you together are like milk and cookies," she said smoothing down a curl that was forming in his beard, a sure sign a trim would not be far off. "Look, I'll have my phone on me from the moment you leave the house. I'll even turn on that baby cam thingie you got for Charlie's room when you started to worry he might sleep walk like you did when you were little. And you've got the rest of the security cams in the house you can peep at too."

Embarrassed Adam stuttered, "I … uh … I don't do it much. I don't want you to think I'm spying on you."

Giving him an understanding look she told him, "I know you're not. It is actually kinda funny when I hear your voice coming out of the camera speakers just telling me you love me for no reason other than you want me to know. If I'm getting down and naughty I can always throw a scarf or something over a camera. Of course then you're imagination can …"

"Whoa. I'm tired. I'm not THAT tired."

Emi gave him a small smile to let him know she'd only been teasing him a little. "Seriously Adam, go to bed. I've got this. Maybe next time you'll have to get it but this time we'll do it this way. 'K?"

Not seeing much choice Adam turned to go to their bed while Emi stayed by Charlie's. He turned one more time and said, "This still sucks."

"We'll get through it," Emi responded.

There was a peace and assurance in her eyes that Adam hadn't seen there in a long, long time. Maybe not ever, or at least not as real as it was now. It made him feel better, calmer, and he prayed that he was in some part responsible and vowed he'd do whatever he had to do to keep both her and Charlie getting better as well. The idea of that just did it for him. It made all the crap he went through every day be worth it, like he had some higher calling that kept him above it all even when it sometimes dragged him down.

It suddenly struck him that it was never what his father did to him that ruined their relationship and their potential for any kind of reconciliation; it was what his father had never been, at least in Adam's memory. Charles Ross had never instilled trust that he'd be there for his wife and children when they needed him. He demanded respect rather than actively seeking to earn it. Their home should have at least in part shielded them from the storms of life and given them a haven or sanctuary to experience life from. In reality their home was the storm with Charles Ross being the cause. Life revolved around his father and was on his father's terms only, with no exception; breaking that sacred unwritten law meant pain and humiliation at the man's hands. Charles Ross wasn't head of his house … he was the brutal dictator that filled everyone in it with fear.

Adam realized it wasn't just being the opposite of his father that he needed to have as his goal. What he needed to be was something completely different. It was a difficult revelation for the tired man to absorb, but one that was timely and one he vowed he would think about and work on. He didn't want to reflect his father in any way … did not want to be like him, nor did he want to spend the rest of his life trying to prove he wasn't like him by over compensating in the opposite direction.

An idea that would have once filled Adam with fear of failure, caused him to be depressed about a perceived lack of capability on his part, instead this time energized him and filled him with hope and purpose. He was still bone-deep tired. He still would have preferred to stay home with Charlie and Emi. But, something inside him had shifted, a perception of what his life could be. He needed to change the way he looked at things, so that the things he looked at could change.

# # # # # # # # # #

In another part of the city existed nothing but failure and loss of hope and brutal consequences.

"Why?! Why?!" demanded hoarsely in anger.

The other person answered in a whimper, "I didn't say anything to anyone! I swear it! Please stop!"

A kick was aimed at the person cowering in the corner of the theater manager's office. "You did! I know you did! Why else would they be looking for me!"

"I don't know," the person answered, rubbing at the latest point of contact and pain. "We're all being questioned. My god, they would have never said a thing. I'll never say a thing. Just please, let me go."

The begging only infuriated the person. "Stop saying that! It was an accident! Just an accident!"

"I didn't …"

But it was too late. The death of Elizabeth Eaton might have been an accident. The death of James Wright was committed in the heat of the moment, an unplanned murder. But this death was premeditated and would be designed to throw the investigation into disarray.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Adam was running late. He'd barely gotten up on time but it would have been alright except the damn car wouldn't start – another expense that meant putting off other things that needed doing. It was beginning to look like that commission check that Emi had earned was already spent. Damn. Damn. Damn. Every time he felt like they were starting to get a little ahead something came up. Oh he knew how Emi would react. She'd say that's what the money was there for. But he had been hoping to put at least some of it towards savings, or more accurately towards the legal expenses for adopting Charlie. Living in the house with Emi was still cheaper than renting had been. Way cheaper. If it wasn't he didn't know where they would be right now.

It wasn't like this hadn't happened in the past. It had. Sometimes in spades. The problem was he wasn't just responsible for himself anymore. No more couch surfing if he screwed up or if life screwed him over. He and Emi could make do, both had been there done that. But now there's Charlie. His nephew wasn't a burden, but he was a responsibility. But just damn, sometimes he felt like there was no winning for losing.

He was running up the stairs from the subway when he nearly crashed into Danny.

"Whoa …" Adam yelped while skidding on the wet pavement.

"You dance real good Ross."

"Haha. Funny." Adam sighed then asked curiously, "What are you doing out here? Lindsey got the car?"

"Nah. Mac had me come meet you." Danny laughed at Adam's look of surprise. "Yeah. That girl of yours has definitely gone into caregiver mode. She called to say you were going to be late and that it might even be later because she heard on the radio about the line you were on running behind because of a power outage on a connecting track."

"Yeah. Ten minutes from the station. I would have gotten off and walked but they had the rails shut down trying to move other trains through. Fluster cluck," Adam growled.

"Yeah. From the look of everyone's faces they're all as cheery as you are."

Adam shrugged. "Let's just get to the lab."

"Wrong way partner. Mac is waiting around the corner with the hummer. There was another body discovered at the Amster."

It only took a moment for Adam to switch gears, in a sense grateful to put the uncomfortable thoughts of the morning away for a while. "Anyone we know?"

"Yeah. Our primary suspect."

"Wig Dude?! I mean Malcolm Holiday? Damn, damn, damn, damn. Now what have I done?"

"Yo Adam. Settle down Dude."

Ignoring Danny, Adam spotted the hummer and jogged over, opened the door and before even greeting his boss he said, "I'm sorry Mac. I don't know how it happened but it had to be my collection process or something."

Mac glanced at Danny who was trying to stay carefully neutral. Not getting any help from that quarter Mac asked, "What exactly are you apologizing for?"

Adam looked shamefaced as he explained, "Our primary suspect was Malcolm Holiday. Only now he's dead and …"

"Adam don't jump to conclusions. First of all, we haven't even been to the scene yet. Secondly, given all of the cross checking you did it is doubtful there are any fallacies in your data collection. Let's just see what we have at the new scene and go from there. It does no good to make assumptions. What is it that I always say?"

"It's about the science."

"Exactly. And your science is good. Now get in the car. Let's just put the Wright murder to the side and focus in on this one. When we collect all the trace and statements from witnesses we'll see if there is any overlap or similarities, or if something else really stands out. At the moment we don't even have any proof beyond the location to suggest the two murders are connected." At Adam's look Mac nodded. "I know but our job isn't to make assumptions, we have to have proof; and, until we do we are treating them as two separate crimes."

Adam climbed into the back while Danny took shotgun up front but both Danny and Mac could see that Adam was intent on something as he scrutinized his tablet computer and occasionally mumbled to himself. This time they were able to get much closer to the theater to park but as they walked in Danny noted all of the construction they had to drive around had suddenly stopped.

"What's up with that?" he asked aloud. He was surprised when one of the rookie officers on the scene answered.

"My brother said that a lot of city workers are being asked to take a voluntary day off and stay home. Some are being given two days. That shigella crap is starting to show up all over the place. Public schools are closing for the rest of the week starting tomorrow. Most of the private schools are following suit. They're hoping to break the chain of infection." Trying to score some points to offset the screw up of the other day the young man asked, "Have you heard what the Captain is trying to do?"

"Naw."

"He's looking into whether he can charge them prostitutes and their pimps with depraved indifference. The DA said he'll support it but only if they can find definitive proof they knew their kids were infectious. And get this, if they can find something that says they were doing it on purpose then maybe they can charge them with something worse."

"Yeah? Well more power to him. But for now, keep your eyes and ears peeled for anything out here." As a rebuke it was a very mild one and the rookie cop nodded and turned his attention back to guarding the entrance to keep the lookie-lous out.

With that Danny went to go find Mac and Adam and saw them disappearing down a hall that Danny knew led to the administrative offices. He had almost caught up when he heard Adam whisper, "Holy crap."


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

Adam had worked messy crime scenes before. It wasn't the messiness, although that was bad enough; it was the aura of rage that seemed to permeate the crime scene.

"Uh … Boss?"

"You okay to lead on this Adam?" Mac asked with concern.

Adam squared his shoulders. He hadn't meant to seem weak. "Yeah. But actually, what I was going to say was I think I see the murder weapon. Over in the far corner near that filing cabinet.

Momentarily surprised, Mac gave a nod of approval of the fact that despite his obvious disgust at what was before them, Adam was already at work. What Adam had spotted was a theater laurel statuette, the kind of thing awarded to people attached to Broadway. It was a 3D metal design covered with copper and brass made to look like the classical theater motifs of Grecian column and the duo comedy/tragedy masks. Even from across the room it was obvious it was covered in blood and what was sure to turn out to be other human tissue.

Danny, who had come in behind both men, looked up to the ceiling and said, "That is a hell of a lot of cast off. Whoever did this was swinging hard, fast, and often."

Mac's monosyllabic response was, "Agreed." His facial expression was just as sparse but seemed to say much, much more. However, he remained silent and Adam finally looked at the other two men and realized that he was well and truly in the lead and would need to make the first move. After Adam suggested they cover up with paper coveralls the work of taking pictures and gathering trace continued until it was interrupted by Dr. Sid Hammerback arriving.

Adam's concern alerted Mac and when he turned he said, "Sid! What are you doing here?"

"Most of my staff somehow had the impression that they should take the day off with the rest of the city workers."

"The ME's office was not on the list of affected departments."

Annoyed yet calm Sid responded, "I am aware."

"And where did your staff get the idea that they were?"

"Supposedly from a memo circulated in my absence. The impression was that it was from me though no one can say why other than the letterhead the single piece of paper was printed on. However, that letterhead is six months out of date. But perhaps we should wait to discuss this until we take care of this poor gentlemen before us."

Mac nearly started grinding his teeth. "As soon as we get back to the office I would like to see a copy of this so called memo."

"I'd be happy to provide it only it seems to have evaporated into thin air."

No one in the room could mistake the fact that Sid was well and truly furious. He was still calm. Still in control. The casual observer would not even notice. But Mac and the other two men were not casual observers. It wasn't often that Sid got this kind of angry but when he did everyone knew to give him space.

"We'll get to the bottom of this Sid. Do you want me to call Hawkes?"

Sid shook his head. "No. He's already been on nine days straight and is going to come in this evening to supervise the night crew. I believe at the moment he is off checking on Don Flack. I can handle this Mac."

"Of that I had no doubt," Mac told the man, assuring him that he had confidence in him. That relieved Sid enough that he was able to set aside his anger sufficiently to perform the coroner's duties.

After a few moments Sid got up from the floor and said, "TOD would appear to be approximately midnight, very similar in time frame to our other victim, Mr. Wright. And likely very close to the actual TOD of our female victim as well, Ms. Eaton. Any particular significance to that time?"

Mac was going to answer but Danny nudged him and pointed with his chin towards Adam. The man stood perfectly still except for his eyes which were obviously looking at something but it wasn't anything in the room they were in.

"Adam?"

Adam startled a bit and blinked his eyes before focusing on Mac. "Uh … I was thinking."

"Obviously," Mac said sardonically. "Care to share?"

"Oh … er … it's what Sid said. What is it about midnight and I might … well … Emi asked me if I could design a Pac Man type game using the floor plan of one of the historic sights she's going to be … anyway … see it is a mystery game, people … mostly kids … are going to have to gather clues along the way and … yeah … so it got me to thinking about Pac Man …"

"Adam …" Mac said in his "get to the point" tone of voice.

"Yeah. Anyway. In the old Pac Man game you won by avoiding getting chomped. The really high scorers always seemed to be able to predict the paths that avoided the ghosts. Well, think of the security guards as the ghosts and our perp as a Pac Man … or Ms. Pac Man. If our ghosts … our security guards … have a specific path that they use, and they've used it exclusively and so often that it is predictable, then our Pac Man … I mean the perp … might now exactly when and where the best locations are for avoiding them."

Sid turned slightly away but not before Mac and Danny saw he was trying not to smile. Surprisingly Sid seemed to get an inordinate amount of enjoyment out of Adam's sometimes quirky thought process. Unknown to either Mac or Danny, Adam had gone to Sid and asked him for a letter of recommendation. He was giving serious consideration to completing his doctoral studies but he didn't want anyone else to know.

"Completing your doctoral studies? Are you saying that you've …?"

Adam gave one of his typical self-deprecating shrugs. "Yeah. I've been working on it off and on since I graduated … or at least when I had the extra bucks to pay for it. But you know … the full time job thing and trying to have a life kinda cut into study time. But I've got Charlie and Emi to think about. If finishing up adding a couple of letters to the end of my name keeps me employed then I'll do what it takes. I've talked to a couple of Emi's colleagues and run a couple of proposals for a doctoral thesis by them and they've helped me narrow it better but I'm still gonna have a hell of a time writing a dissertation."

"May I ask what you've generally chosen as your thesis?"

"Er … it's kinda … anyway it has to do with how the expansion of 3D technology could revolutionize forensics but never take the place of human oversight. I gotta clean the title up and make sure I don't give away too many industry secrets … like the nuts and bolts of all the equipment and programming I'm beta testing … but I think it's workable."

Sid had gladly written the letter thinking that if Mac wasn't careful Adam might just outgrow the lab before the lab could grow to keep up with him. The young man still had a ways to go with interpersonal relations in the office but that was often the way with extremely smart people; their mental acuity often outstripped their social acuity. It would be interesting to see if Mac could mentor Adam into a good balance of the two.

"Sid?"

Danny brought Sid back to the present by telling him they were ready for the body to be removed. Sid turned and directed his assistants of the moment, leaving the other three men to finish up.

"Mac, should I tell the theater staff they can schedule a crime scene clean up or should we tape the room off?"

"What do you think?" Mac asked, putting the onus for the decision back on Adam.

"I'd prefer to seal the room off but I'm honestly not sure how much good it will do. Plus they're going to have opening night and there's stuff in here that the manager and his staff are probably going to need. I know under most circumstances we shouldn't allow anything to influence out decision whether to seal a crime scene off but … er … Boss, there were already some calls made by the Mayor's office on this case, I don't know … okay, I'm starting to talk in circles aren't I." Adam sighed feeling like a failure.

Then Mac surprised him by clapping him on the shoulder. "Welcome to my world. You're correct, if we tried to seal the room we'd catch it from several directions; however, we can seal it for twenty-four hours which would give us time to take the trace back to the lab and see if there are any obvious gaps that need reinvestigating. There are also large amounts of biologicals that need to be dealt with in terms of health and safety protocols. Let's seal the scene and then tell the manager he can have his insurance company schedule clean-up for no sooner than twelve hours from now."

And that's what they did. The manager wasn't happy but he wasn't exactly eager to enter his office after getting his first glimpse of it this morning either.

As everyone took care of the last minute double checking Mac and Danny both noticed Adam take out his phone several times and look concerned. Silently Mac signaled to Danny to find out what was going on. Mac stepped outside to give Danny room to work on Adam.

"Yo, what's up? Expecting a call?"

"No. Charlie is sick. I'm just checking on them. Charlie looks better but now Emi looks toasted. And I'm working a double and can't help."

"Aw man … is it this crap that's going around?"

"Shigella? Emi says no but I haven't even put Charlie on my insurance yet … I shoulda made time but I haven't. Now what if he's really sick? Emi keeps saying it's okay but …" Adam stopped and touched the Dropcam app on his phone yet again and swallowed when he saw Emi walk into Charlie's room carrying the boy. Emi was small so it made Charlie look bigger than he was but then he heard Charlie give a horrible, booming cough. "Oh hell … he's getting worse. I knew it. I … I …"

Danny was looking over his shoulder and then tried to hide a knowing grin when Adam's phone buzzed as Emi dialed in.

"Uh Babe?"

"You must have pressed the speaker. I could hear you talking. Stop worrying yourself to pieces. Charlie has a cold. He puked last night because of the fever. He managed to keep half a piece of toast down for breakfast and for lunch he had some chicken broth. I told him if he can keep that down he can have some more soup and he can have gold fish crackers to go with it. The cough is nasty sounding but it is more croupe than congestion, and I think related to the puking which irritated his throat and bronchial tubes. The steam bath with eucalyptus oil is already helping. And you forgot your lunch so you'll need to stop and get you something at some point … and make it more than that sludge you call coffee. 'K?"

Taking what she said in Adam asked, "Can … can I say something to Charlie?"

Emi put the phone to Charlie's ear while she sat holding him in her rocker she'd dragged into his room. "Uncle Da, I'm thick. My nothe ith thuffy and my earths feel hot."

"Aw Buddy, I'm really sorry you feel yucky. I … I'd be there … I mean I'll be there tonight. Okay? And I'll read you however many stories you want."

"Okay but don't let me breave on you or your nothe will get thuffy too."

"We'll work it out Buddy. Let me talk to Emimi please."

The little boy pushed the phone towards Emi and then buried into the quilt she was holding him in and promptly fell asleep. "You sure you're okay?"

"Adam, I'm fine. And Charlie will be fine as well. He's already settled down now that you've promised to read him a story tonight. Just stop wearing yourself to a frazzle over this."

They said their good byes and then Adam turned to Danny, red faced. "This being a parent stuff is … it's …"

"Yeah it is," Danny agreed. "You shoulda seen me the first time Lucy really got honest to God sick. Linds threatened to have me committed to Bellvue if I didn't calm down." Danny smiled nostalgically. "You'll do find Adam. It don't exactly get easier but … you learn. It just takes practice."

"I don't want to practice on Charlie … he needs me now already knowing what needs to be done."

Knowing some of Adam's feelings came from his upbringing … or lack of one by his own father … Danny tried to be sensitive to that when he said, "We all make mistakes Man, it's part of life. It's what we do with the lessons we learn from the mistakes we make that tells what kind of person we are." Pausing Danny finally said, "Don't measure yourself against your ol' man. Just because he failed you don't mean you're going to fail Charlie."

Adam froze for a moment, surprised anyone had dared to bring it up but then he realized he was talking to Danny and Danny didn't know how not to be daring. So Adam said, "I'm not really measuring myself against what my father did … because there'd be nothing to measure against. When any of us got sick it was either like we didn't exist or that we were faking it and we better stop … or else." Adam shook his head to break free of the memories. "I just want to do the right thing Danny. I always thought the right thing would be so easy to do but sometimes I … I don't know that I can do the right thing."

"We all feel like that sometimes. You just do the best you can and then you move along and don't make the same mistake twice any more than you can help."

Adam nodded. At this point he finally admitted there wasn't anything else he could do but what he was already doing and he needed to get back to doing his job. He took one last look around the blood and gore splattered office before sealing the door closed with yellow crime tape. He wondered, not for the first time that day, what Malcolm Holiday had done to find himself a murder victim. If they could find out what connected all three victims he was sure that it would lead to the murderer.


	22. Chapter 22

_[_ _ **Author's Note**_ _:_ _In this chapter is a hat tip to author_ _racefh853629_ _that has written several CSI: NY/CSI: LV crossovers involving Adam Ross and Greg Sanders.]_

* * *

 ** _Chapter 22_**

Adam was exhausted. Thank god he didn't have to go into the lab until later tomorrow. Swing shifts sometimes sucked but he was grateful that this coming swing shift … from afternoon to evening … would excuse him from having to get up at the butt crack of dawn to make it into work on time.

Emi had texted him right as he was leaving and she'd asked him to bring home a couple of bottles of lemon-lime flavored soda from the vending machines at work.

Emi wasn't normally a soda drinker so he asked, "Why?"

She'd responded, _"_ _Trying to find something to keep Charlie hydrated that will go easy on his stomach._ _He said he wanted something fizzy."_

Jarred into sudden panic he asked, "Is he worse?! Should we take him to the ER?"

He hadn't even waited for her to answer but had called her. "Emi?!"

He heard how tired she was even from over the phone. _"_ _I didn't mean to worry you Love._ _He's fine, just washed out and a little weepy._ _Poor kiddo is scared to death."_

"Why?" Adam asked, calmer now he'd heard how calm she was. He started juggling his go-home gear and pulling change out of his pants pocket on his way to the vending machine.

 _"_ _I think it is that abandonment thing we've already discussed._ _He can't seem to stop being scared that we're going to not want him because he is too much trouble or work or all of the other things he must have heard at some point._ _It's just the ickies bringing it back up, poor little guy._ _As soon as he starts feeling better he'll let go of the worry."_

"Will he?" Adam wondered aloud.

 _"_ _Yes, because he'll be in a better frame of mind to hear what we are saying and feel how much we mean it."_

Adam had thought about that conversation all the way home as uncomfortable memories from his own childhood played through his head. He'd been thinking so hard he'd almost missed his stop to get off the subway. He was still thinking about it a while later as he put his key in the door. Despite trying to be quiet, since he'd hoped Emi and Charlie were asleep, Emi had stumbled out of the parlor where she'd been boxing up even more of the knick-knacks until she got around to deciding what to do with them.

Curly hair escaping from her ever-present braid, sproinging in every direction since she hadn't had time to tame the mane that morning, she blinked owlishly at Adam until she spotted the bag he was carrying. "Here, I'll take … whoa … did you buy out the entire vending machine?"

"No, only two in there are from work. I stopped at the pharmacy near the subway station on the way home. Ran out of change and the stupid machine wouldn't take my dollar bills. The rest of that stuff in there is for you."

They'd walked into the kitchen so Emi pulled the bottles out of the grocery bag and put them on the counter. In the bottom of the bag she found a super-sized bottle of multi-vitamins that were heavy on the vitamin C and D, some generic-brand powdered sports drink, a small bottle of Echinacea tablets, and then he handed her a box of nitrile gloves and a stack of N95 paper masks he'd snagged from work at Jo's suggestion.

"Adam …"

"I know we have nearly a gallon of hand sanitizer around here, and you have gloves in your work room, but I want you to put some in a container and put it by the front door … I guess some by the backdoor as well."

"Er …"

"I know; you think I'm over reacting."

Emi tilted her head and looked deeply into his eyes before saying, "You're taking care of us and I'm fine with that. Anything in particular however that … um …"

Adam was so tired that when Emi pulled a chair out for him he slid into it without a single protest. From where his head lay on his arms he said, "Marshall called out sick."

"Marshall?"

"One of the newer lab guys. You met him when he was interviewing ... right before our Vegas trip. Tall, thin, and the way he talks will remind you of Lurch from the old Addams Family tv show. He's been staying with his sister; they're sharing an apartment until he can find his own. Anyway, she works at the county clerk's office and started showing symptoms last night. He had to take her to the ER because she was throwing up so hard she could barely breathe and it set off her asthma. While they were there he started running a fever and running to the bathroom … or so said the sister who wound up having to call in for him from her own hospital bed, at least according to Kendall who took the call and all the gossip that went with it." Shaking his head trying to bring himself back on track he added, "That means that the lab has likely been breached. I don't know if it will spread into the rest of the staff but we have to consider the possibility. I didn't come in direct contact with Marshall since he has been mostly in orientation meetings the last couple of days, but other people in the lab have and I probably crossed paths with someone who did in the break room, hallway, bathroom. There are hundreds of possible vector points with the way we are all always moving from station to station and lab to lab. Everyone has been wearing PPE but I've had to remind a couple to fit their masks better and to stop touching their faces and hecks. Dammit …" After balling his fists in frustration Adam looked at Emi and said helplessly, "I'm sorry Babe."

Emi didn't belittle the potential problem with platitudes or nonchalance, but did say, "You have to be one of the most conscientious lab people I've ever met. You're very … um … particular about all of it. And I'm not the only one that has noticed … you heard a couple of those Las Vegas CSI lab guys when you were pulling prints off of those poker chips. That one you went to school with … Greg … made it out like you …" At an uncomfortable look from Adam that told her there was a story there with Greg that she hadn't heard yet, she stopped. "Fine, I'll tune it down a bit. But the truth is you can't control everything or every one. Hopefully other people have been wearing their PPE and following protocol and no one else in the lab will come down with this."

"It's not work the lab staff I'm worried about … I mean it is but not what I'm worried about right now. Emi, I know it is going to be a hassle but please …"

"Adam just tell me what you want and I'll do it."

Emi's acceptance of Adam's need to control what he could control helped him to relax a bit. He explained what he wanted and it actually wasn't all that different than what she expected so it was easy enough to agree to. After she'd fed him a sandwich and convinced him he really didn't need to drink the dregs of day-old coffee in the bottom of his thermos right before bed, Emi asked about the rest of his day.

Adam usually kept the details of the cases he worked on close to the vest because despite Emi's career she wasn't a member of the department. However, for this he needed her input … and potential insight because she'd already had contact with some of the people involved. Usually he counted on others to do this part of the job but Flack was out sick and the rest of the team was as flummoxed as he was. Being case lead was also freaking him out a bit and he knew he'd need all the help he could get.

"I didn't even make it into the lab until later. Danny met me at the station and we had to go straight to the Amster. there was another body."

"Another?" she asked more than a little surprised.

"This one messier than the other two. Mac says we keep the three murders separate until we find the link – to not assume there is a link – but I know there is one. I just can't find it," he griped, more than a little frustrated.

"Might not be your job to find it; only help to find it," she told him with enough insight that it made him blink.

"Okaaaay," he said, thinking it over. "But everything I try is turning into a dead end."

"It happens and you know it. It'll drive a body crazy when it happens but there's no denying that it does happen."

"Take it you've been there too," he said, responding to her obviously dry understatement with a small grin. "What do you do to help break one of your cases?"

Emi looked at him in surprise. Adam rarely asked her about this part of her work. "Um … well, after throwing a tantrum and wasting time and energy I could put to better use …" Adam's grin widened. A little embarrassed Emi admitted, "I go old school on the problem."

"Old school?"

"Yeah. How I worked before you drug me kicking and screaming into the 21st Century."

"Ha ha. Admit it … computers aren't the foul creatures of the deepest levels of hell you used to consider them."

"Fine, tech has its uses. Although I admit to liking the techie more than the tech," she told him with a naughty wink that had Adam leaning back in invitation for her to take up residence in his lap. An invitation she accepted with enough enthusiasm that Adam was starting to forget about the case.

"Venn diagrams."

"Huh?" he said caught between the non sequitur and the sensation of Emi teasing his chest hairs that showed now that he'd taken off the strangling tie and unbuttoned his dress shirt.

"Venn diagrams. Sets that overlap to show where the subset … or similarities … are between subjects."

"I know what a Venn is," he said. "My mind isn't completely fried," he added as he became fascinated by the narrow strip of flesh that showed between the waist band of her jeans and the bottom of the t-shirt she was wearing that was riding up.

"You can't be that bad off if you are up to multi-tasking," Emi said trying to surprise a giggle at the near tickle his hand was causing.

Adam looked up and gave her a wolfish smile. "Wanna test that theory Dr. O'Ryan?"

A while later they were checking on Charlie one last time before heading to their bed for the night when Adam's mind came back around to what Emi had been saying. "So explain 'old school' again?"

Emi rolled her eyes in resignation. "I usually start with Venn Diagrams to try and see where things overlap or make connections. You have victims, as in plural. Where are their points of contact? Do they have any? What are there other similarities?"

"We have three victims, one of whom was my primary suspect at the time of his death."

"Okay, let's leave that complication out for the moment. What are your data points?"

Playing along just to have someone else to talk to that wouldn't make him feel like he was still in his first internship, "Two of the vics were definitely friends, in college together, and may have been in a relationship at one point. But Vic #3 definitely did not go to college with them and from what we've gathered, didn't have a very good rapport with either of the other two vics. In fact, Vic #3 definitely had a … er … less than cordial interaction with the intern … Vic #2. The intern is … was I mean … an employee of the theater. Vic #1 was a former actress at the theater … in the play that Vic #3 was a current actor in. The most obvious connection is the theater … possibly the play itself given the weird circumstances that Vic #1 was found in. But nothing we've found thus far stands out and says it's a good motive for murder."

Emi snorted. "Is there really such a thing as a good motive for murder."

"Don't wax philosophical Babe. Stick to the science."

"Science is what you use to prove a hypothesis or theory. Sometimes to get to that point you have to go with your gut. Tell me, why didn't you like Vic #3?"

"Huh? I never said …"

"No, you didn't have to. What bothered you about the guy so much?"

"Mac said …"

"Look, Mac is good. Actually he's really great at what he does but we aren't Mac. We need to find our own groove. You came to me for some reason other than the science because you know that's not my thing beyond the anatomical. So … put Mac aside for now and try it _your_ way. This is setting off your OCD for some reason, let's figure out why."

"Because I'm lead."

"No … well okay, maybe that is some of it but personally I don't think that is really at the root of it. Why didn't you like Vic #3?"

After giving it some thought Adam decided to play along. If it wound up going nowhere he wouldn't have lost any ground because nowhere was exactly where he was at with the case right now.


	23. Chapter 23

_**Chapter 23**_

With a great deal of contempt Adam named him, "Wig Dude."

Emi gave Adam a strange look. "Huh?"

"Vic #3. His real name is Malcolm Holiday but he's stuck being Wig Dude in my head."

More than a little curious, Emi asked, "Why?"

"That's what he was wearing when he and I had our run in at the theater. He was getting trace all over my crime scene evidence … repeatedly … even after I threatened to have him removed from the building. He was totally ignoring the authority of the crime scene tape and kept … well he was a jackass about it all and I lost my cool."

Concerned, she observed, "That's not like you. I can see Danny doing that, but not you."

Shaking his head at the memories, Adam admitted, "I know. But the guy and his prima donna act just got under my skin. The fact that the other actors were getting off on him irritating me made it worse. It made me feel like a substitute teacher that was losing control of the classroom they were assigned … all while the big boss was watching."

Knowing he meant that Mac, and probably some of the other CSIs had been watching as well, she tried to distract Adam from his embarrassment by asking, "Why call him Wig Dude?"

"He was wearing this wig that just … just … it was …" Adam stopped to think. "It stood out."

Recognizing the look on Adam's face she quietly asked, "Why did the wig stand out?" She hoped the question would help him follow whatever rabbit trail his mind was going down.

With pointed concentration, like he was viewing it all again under a microscope, he answered, "Because he's a guy and the wig was for a female. I mean you didn't notice it at first because it was dark – a dark brunette color – and was done up in one of those hair nets. But a lot of them, both male and female in the dressing room, were wearing hair nets … like they were in the middle of getting dressed in full costume or whatever you call it and didn't want make up getting in their hair. Just … just it was weird and … well it was weird."

"Was he the only male in the room wearing what appeared to be a female wig?"

"Yeah, 'cause I looked after I finally figured out why it seemed out of place to the point it irritated me. I … well I put it down to him annoying me on purpose."

"Could have been, but would it be a piece of the puzzle if the wig had nothing to do with you?"

Without even getting out of bed Adam reached over to his courier bag and pulled out his laptop. Emi was tired but didn't fuss because she'd had some of those moments when what was in her head simply couldn't wait. She leaned back on her pillow and nearly fell asleep to the sound of Adam's fingers flying across the computer's keypad like a master pianist's fingers flew across a key board. "Bingo."

"Hmmm?"

"Emi? Malcolm Holiday played the part of Jack Pick. There's no reason he would have been wearing a wig designed for a woman if he was the male lead. Who is the understudy? Dammit … there's no script in evidence."

"Easy enough to fix. Ask Mr. Montague, he co-wrote the screen play."

Adam stopped in mid key-stroke. "What?"

"Mr. Montague. He co-wrote the screen play. Apparently some student found the play, or outline for the plot, in their family attic. Don't know all the details," she muttered sleepily.

"Er … how do you know?"

"When I first did the project. Gathered all the data points to create a few brain doodles to work from but mostly what I did was about Olivia Toms. Who wrote the play wound up not being very important to my work. They hadn't even started auditioning at that point so I can't help you with who the understudies are. Maybe that woman … Lorraine Something-or-other … that is Mr. Montague's admin assistant."

Adam smiled as he saw Emi succumb to sleep but he himself was feeling energized and wide awake. Since he wouldn't be going into the lab until the afternoon he decided to gather his thoughts and then shoot an email off to Mac to bring him up to speed on the things he'd put together on his end. Mostly however, he wanted someone to find out who had really written the screen play. And if the theater manager really did co-write it, who the other writer or writers were and who was the person – if there was one – that originated the story plot.

At the end of the email he wrote: _"_ _I'm sorry Mac, I know you said stick to the science, but my gut is telling me this could be important._ _It might not help us nail the perp but it could lead to discovering what the motive was for at least one of the murders."_

Adam hit the send key before he could over think and get too nervous about what Mac would make of his request. Finally, having settled his mind in one area he started to get out of bed until Emi mumbled, "He's fine. You need to sleep."

"What if he isn't?"

"Check Super Man."

"Check what?" Adam asked thinking Emi was talking in her sleep.

"That's what I named the monitor in Charlie's room. He was upset thinking it was a 'baby' monitor and I told him that babies couldn't see in the dark so it couldn't be a baby-monitor. We went 'round and around until I started calling it 'Super Man'. Geez, he is definitely related to you. Reni could be eight kinds of stubborn if she thought someone was selling her short but Charlie beats just about everything I've seen."

"Uh huh … pot and kettle from the sound of it Babe. You'd know about stubborn."

"You wanna play Jester, or you wanna test the ground rules?" she said with a small grin while still keeping her eyes closed.

"Aw Babe, play fair." But he said it with a grin as he turned the bedside lamp off.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

"Hawkes? Danny?"

The two men stopped despite being on the way to a fresh pot of coffee and followed Mac's voice into his office.

"The Amster Case."

"Yeah?"

"Have either one of you run into the fact that the theater manager is the one that co-wrote the play that is now in production?"

The two men looked at each other and then at Mac with negative shakes of their head. Danny asked, "Where'd you hear that?"

Mac handed them a copy of the email that Adam had sent him. Hawkes read it then grinned. "I swear one of these days someone is going to write a scientific paper on the two of them."

Danny nodded but was more concerned about Adam getting in trouble for discussing the case. Mac read his expression and said, "It's fine Danny. This is turning into an unusual case and Emi's reputation and connection to some of the evidence will cover any questions that could conceivably come up. However, I also want independent verification of what Emi remembers. We may know she has an eidetic memory but I'd prefer not to have to explain that during a trial."

Danny nodded and said, "Gotcha. We were going to head over to the third crime scene to take another look. There's a possible void in some of the splatter … like I don't know … something was moved in mid attack. There's just not as much cast off in a small area on a shelf as you'd expect. But it's hard to tell, even using that 3D thingie that Adam brought on line."

Hawkes looked at him with a grimace. "3D thingie?"

"You know what I mean. The Webber equipment. I wanna put a set of eyes on that spot before the cleaning people get to it."

Mac nodded in agreement. The equipment was potentially a great advancement but machines and technology would never completely eclipse the human mind and deductive reasoning. Mac said, "And Danny while you're doing that, I want you and Hawkes both to nose around and see if you can find out who Malcolm Holiday's understudy is and if there are any unusual connections between him and the three vics. A jealous actor might seem like a ridiculous cliché, but it is cliché for a reason."

The two men left and Mac re-read Adam's initial findings report, a smile of satisfaction slowly appearing on his face. Jo spotted him and stuck her head in the door. "So did Junior get an A on his mid-term?"

"Jo."

"Oh I know, I know," she said walking in and closing the door. "Seriously, though, how's our boy doing?"

"I assume you are referring to Adam?"

"Of course I am and you know it. Don't keep this poor ol' girl in suspense."

Mac just shook his head at Jo's antics. "Yes. He's coming along. He is still too hesitant and unsure in some areas but when he does come to a conclusion he supports it with evidence, almost too much evidence."

"And a good lawyer will then pick apart the case where there isn't quite as much evidence."

"Exactly. Adam is very good in the lab, now he needs to improve in other areas." Mac handed Jo the report to glance over. "His reports read like a lab notebook. Each point has diagrams and even mathematical equations if they are appropriate. He needs to learn to keep that sort of thing in the addendum and make the primary report simple, succinct, and to the point. Defense attorneys love to pick the science apart and throw doubt about it; and when they can't they like to confuse the jury and cause them to doubt the science. I've seen sloppy handwriting cause a jury to ignore the content of a statement of confession because the DA was able to work the juror's box."

"It happens at every level Mac," Jo agreed as she continued to flip through Adam's report. Something caught her eye and she said, "I don't know why the boy keeps surprising me the way he does. Look at this." Jo was pointing to a section of the report. "I can see where he has taken other people's work – crediting them no less - and that might explain the physics involved in both the velocity of cast off and the force of our falling intern but this … this right here is profiling … legitimate psychological profiling. Now tell me where a lab rat learned profiling skills."

There was a knock on Mac's open door and it was Syd. Looking around before speaking he said, "You might be surprised … or maybe not."

Jo looked at Syd's conspiratorial grin and said, "Okay, give. What do you know?"

Syd look at both Jo and Mac consideringly then quickly sat in the other chair in front of Mac's desk. "Adam didn't ask me not to say anything exactly but I'm fairly certain this is not something that he wouldn't appreciate it being a common top of discussion."

Mac revealed his concern by giving Syd a grave stare. "Then maybe we shouldn't …"

Syd shook his head. "I think you two need to know … maybe deserve to know. Not that long ago Adam came to me for a letter of recommendation."

Immediately Mac was suspicious. It wasn't that long ago that he'd been shocked to find out that several agencies had attempted to recruit Adam away from the lab. Reading his face Jo turned to Syd and said, "Letter of recommendation for what?"

"Grad school." Both Jo and Mac blinked. "Now of course I was delighted to do so. I think that young man has a great deal of potential and a doctorate would do nothing but help him in that respect. However, actually writing the letter … well it was proving to be a challenge. I wanted it to be more than just a form letter."

Jo smiled and said, "You old softy."

"Perhaps but in this case … as I said, I like Adam both personally and professionally but he isn't the easiest person to really get to know. He appears very transparent on the surface, and in many respects is transparent, but he also has unexpected depths to him. I was struggling how to … well … state why I was giving him a letter of recommendation. The wife and I were having dinner with a former colleague of mine and his wife and I mentioned my struggle as I knew he was often asked to write letters of recommendation as well. It turns out my friend's wife – a professor at NYU – knows Adam."

"I assume this is going some place," Mac said patiently.

"Oh yes indeed. Well, I found out a few very interesting items about our Mr. Ross. Aside from the fact that he … well … while he is definitely remembered in the chemistry department for a few … er … interesting incidences," Syd chuckled and let Jo and Mac's imaginations do the rest. "However, he is also a fairly regular attendee for various classes."

"What?" Jo said, startled.

"Yes," Syd said as he continued to smile. "He was able to double major at his original graduation. One in biochemistry and a second in forensic science; however, he has since acquired a third masters in mathematics and has most of another in psychology of all things. The reason he doesn't actually have the masters in psychology is because of the externship requirement. He also shows up at lectures and since becoming friends with Dr. O'Ryan has been known to haunt the labs if someone needs a hand. This doesn't even begin to include all of the various courses that he's been known to audit various courses around campus. All through this he has also maintained a healthy balance of extracurricular activities and social engagements."

Stunned, Jo asked one of the more obvious questions, "Do the boy ever actually sleep?"

Mac answered drily, "At times? No."

Jo continued to just shake her head, trying to include this new information into the picture of Adam Ross that she had been building for the last couple of months. Syd left to go to his next stop and Jo took a good look at Mac before saying, "You're wondering why he didn't come to you for that letter aren't you."

"I … er …"

"It's simple really. He's afraid of disappointing you."

"Excuse me?"

"You know exactly what I mean. He looks up to you a great deal Mac."

Finally Mac nodded. "Perhaps more than is healthy. I'm … I'm …"

"Relax Mac. I think he needs to have someone to look up to. As I understand it his personal history …"

Mac forestalled any in-depth explanations by saying, "Was challenging. Yes. He's dealing with it."

Jo grinned knowingly, "And now it is time to change the subject."

Mac, accepting that Jo was going to let him off the hook … this time … nodded. "Yes. It is. I have Danny and Hawkes gathering information to support some of the hypothesis that Adam came up with. What I'd like you to do is test his profiling skills by following up and seeing what you make of the players involved. See if anything activates your … hmmm …"

"You want me to go see if my spidey senses start to tingle," she said as she rose from her chair.

Rolling his eyes as Jo's antics he nodded waved her out so he could return to the never ending flow of paper work that crossed his desk.


	25. Chapter 25

_**Chapter 25**_

"What the hell?!" Danny growled quietly as he compared the original crime scene photos for the third time with the space in the office they'd come to check out.

Hawkes wasn't any happier when he observed, "They don't match."

"Yeah which means that our crime scene has been tampered with." Danny growled again, this time in Italian leaving Hawkes in no doubt that it was a vicious curse.

Hawkes went back to the door and examined it once again. "We both checked the door before re-opening the crime scene. The tape on the door wasn't tampered with."

Danny nodded and told him, "Standard operating procedure. Adam and I double sealed the door due to the messy biologicals and Mack added his own check and initials to the tape. How the frick did someone get in and mess around with our scene?"

What Danny was referring to was that the void picked up in the original pictures of the crime scene had disappeared; or, more accurately had been disappeared. Whoever did it was good but Danny and Hawkes were seasoned investigators. However, if they hadn't been double-checking that specific location the tampering was so subtle it could have been missed which is part of what torched Danny the most.

Both men started checking for possible entry points. The two windows were as well-sealed as the door. The ceiling was made of plaster with no evidence of destruction. None of the furniture that was against the wall revealed the proverbial hidden panel. Then Danny looked behind the entry door and spotted it.

Hawkes looked at him and then where he pointed and said, "Boom."

Shaking his head doubtfully he responded, "A heating grill?"

Both men bent down to aim their flashlights into the void beyond the grill. "That don't look like no heating duct work that I've ever seen," Danny observed.

"That's not duct work … at least not for heating. That is some kind of … I don't know … what would you call it?"

For a moment both men were perplexed but set it aside to start gathering evidence. They also took plenty of pictures and forwarded them to Adam who got them as soon as he arrived at work.

# # # # # # # # # #

"Mac?" Adam said as Mack walked into the AV lab after receiving a text. "This is … weird."

"Define weird."

Adam took a moment to start pulling up the pictures and putting them on the big screen. While he did Mack caught a quick glimpse of some notes scratched out in pencil on Adam's work station. Before he could really register what he was seeing Adam started talking.

"Have you spoken to Danny yet?"

"Yes, but I want to hear it from you."

"There is no doubt that the crime scene for the third Amster vic has been tampered with." Mack could see frustration bubbling below Adam's attempt to remain calm and unagitated so he gave the man time to answer without additional prompting. Sometimes prompting Adam only caused him to take longer to communicate his message.

Adam ran his fingers through his hair in another show of agitation before he once again started to explain. "The seals and tape were still intact on the office door and windows but comparison of crime scene photos taken yesterday with what was observed today shows definite tampering. There are no other entrances into the room and no hidden panels like could be possible in any of those old buildings built in the early 20th century. However, there is what appears to be a heating or ventilation grill behind the primary entrance."

"The grill behind the door."

"Yeah," Adam said with a nod pointing it out in both before and after pictures that he'd displayed on the large wall monitor. He went on to show close ups of the differences in the suspected "void" space and what Danny and Hawkes had found upon arrival. Then he showed the minute evidence that the grill had been taken off and on at some point between the crime scene being closed and it being re-opened. There was a small scrap in a blood drop that hadn't been there before.

"They also found some smudges deep into the duct work that appear to be where someone crawled both in and out."

"Fingerprints?" Mack asked.

"If only," Adam said in disgust. "But there is some blood evidence that is too far into the duct work to be a result of splatter or cast off … angle is all wrong for it as well. It is around the bend in the duct."

"That doesn't look like it would be big enough for either Danny or Hawkes to crawl into."

"It isn't. Lindsey got called in. She easily got in and out."

"So we are talking about someone Lindsey's size?" Mack asked, already cataloging everyone that had been questioned.

"Actually I think it is someone of a larger build than her. The distance between the hand and knee evidence of crawling, the distance between the knee smudges and the shoe scrapes all indicate this. There are also some smudges along the top edge of the ducting like where a shoulder might have hit as they were crawling through. Lindsey is 5'3". Whoever used the duct work … which isn't duct work … is closer to 5'6" or 5'7" and of a wider build."

Trying not to regret getting off track Mack asked, "Explain 'isn't duct work' please."

"I compared the original building plans with the plans post rehab/re-fit/remodel/re-whatever. That space was originally … well … I've never seen anything like it. It looks like a dumbwaiter system only instead of being vertical, it moved things horizontally."

"What things?"

"Originally it was designed to move costumes and small props between dressing rooms and backstage. I'm not sure what it was used for after that; I can only find its original purpose. The tracks and pullies were removed during the building restoration but the space itself remained with the intent that when more money became available it was going to be where they installed additional wiring for whatever they needed it for rather than having to re-open sealed spaces like the floors and walls."

"Can you tell where the … let's continue to call it a duct. Can you tell where the duct work runs?"

"All over the place Boss. That's the point. The convenience of having an existing space like that was just too important to seal it off. All they did was put decorative grills over the openings and some flaps at different locations to try and prevent problems with the heating and cooling systems."

"How many people would know about the … er … duct system?"

"Maybe not as many as you would think. I called the security people at the theater and they tell me that only a couple of the grills are supposed to open. Most people think of them as decorative if they think of them at all. Danny and Hawkes are verifying the accesses now, while there is no one around."

Trying to remain patient Mack asked, "And why is there no one around."

Adam winced realizing things were coming out in a jumble. "Sorry Boss. I'm switching too many gears too fast. I was up late last night going old school and I'm fighting trying to do too many … dammit." Adam forced himself to stop, take a breath and start again.

"They had the last dress rehearsal before the play starts early this morning. Everyone was getting out of the way to allow the theater and dressing rooms and public areas to be given a thorough clean and polish before opening night. The manager himself walked everyone out of the theater whether they wanted to go or not according to the security guy spoke with. And that's not normal operating procedure but the manager is expecting some important theater donors and city officials to be at opening night and he wants everyone rested and the theater nice and shiny. Her personally locked up the area where all of the audience participation props are set up and has a half dozen security people riding shot gun on it to prevent anything from happening to it … or maybe to keep anyone from getting a jump on figuring out the clues … or reporters getting inside … or any or all of the above."

"And?"

"Like I said, it isn't SOP for something like that. Usually the day before is nearly as busy as the day of opening for a production of that size. That isn't suspicious on its own though. Nor does the theater manager … look, he might be the right height to match our unknown ductwork rat but his … er … width would prevent him from using it. And apparently he has a bum knee and is limping around the theater because of the weather making it act up. It is one of the reasons he had to leave acting and go into management."

"And we know this how?"

"Because he nearly drown me with the details the first time we were there."

"Okay but if it becomes necessary we'll need something to substantiate it. Next point?"

It was then that Adam reached over to his desk and picked up the jumble of papers that he'd noticed coming in.


	26. Chapter 26

_**Chapter 26**_

"Old school," Adam told Mac waving the papers around.

"Excuse me?" Mac asked, getting a suspicion Adam meant more than just the papers in his hand. Then again Mac knew he was being ridiculous, and god help him, sensitive. His most recent hair cut revealed quite a bit more gray than had been there at the beginning of the year and he knew that his age was starting to show more than he cared for.

Apologetically Adam said, "Sorry. Need to explain. But … Emi you know?"

"Adam."

Rubbing his forehead Adam mumbled, "Boss, I need coffee."

Feeling the need himself he led Adam over to his office and pointed to the carafe set up on his credenza. Adam fell on it like a starving man. Once the caffeine craving was being satisfied Mack pointed to the chair in front of his desk to indicate Adam needed to sit and get down to explaining.

"Boss I really am sorry. Thanks for your patience." Months back Mac had become concerned at the amount of coffee that some of the lab personnel were consuming. He wondered if it was workload but it was Syd who explained that for some people with certain brain chemistry … ADD, hyper, OCD, etc. … caffeine actually produced the opposite effect that it did in most people. It was obvious that for Adam the caffeine was going to work as his previous agitation was under control.

"Don't worry about it but let's get down to business."

"Sure Boss, sure thing. Old school. This case has really … well, it's challenging me. For a lot of reasons. Coming straight back to work after the mess in Vegas. Introducing the Webber equipment. Emi's connection to it. The fact that some of the characters involved seem to rub me the wrong way for some reason." After a sigh he added, "And wanting to get it right not only for the sake of the victims but because I know you're giving me a chance to take it to the next level. I don't want to blow it and let you down."

"Don't worry about letting me down Adam, just focus on the case."

"Easy enough to say but …" Adam shrugged and then refocused. "Anyway, I was tired and frustrated last night and Emi and I were talking – not about case specifics but about generalities, like what did she do when she kept running into brick walls in her projects. She reminded me that she used to do everything long hand … without computers I mean. I mean real basics like hand graphing, math without a calculator, personality assessments, and tools like Venn diagrams. I wound up … geez I'd hate to live in a world without tech but I can see how some retro techniques can unclog the brain pipes. I started with the Venn … and found a lot more overlap than came out initially. I thought everything was leading back to the theater industry, then it narrowed to the Amster itself, but when I really started analyzing the commonalities it's actually this play that is really the most common and basic connection."

"Not the theater but the play? What makes you say that?"

"Because while the theater is the broad connection, the play itself is a more common overlap between those involved. Many of the actors are only at the theater for this particular play, their regular contracts are actually with other theaters … they're kinda being loaned out though I don't understand it all. The Amster hasn't completely rebuilt its paid staff since laying everyone off prior to the restoration project. This play is supposed to increase donations so that they can increase permanent staffing and that kind of jazz. There are only a few permanent employees on the payroll. Vic #2, the intern wasn't even one. His paycheck was actually paid as part of his grad studies scholarship through one of the Rockefeller endowments. The security staff are contract players though the company has a really good reputation … those guys aren't your typical mall cop types."

"I'm of the same opinion after speaking to them regarding your 'pac man' analogy which wound up not being as farfetched as I had initially credited it with being."

"Er … yeah … anyway … the actors are all contract players as well and for most of them it is a part time gig, not their primary source of income. Some of the support staff like the make up artists and costumers are actually in it to get college credit for their degree or to look good on a graduate application, yada, yada. Housekeeping and maintenance are all contracted out and it is rarely the same crew though the crew managers are pretty stable. The only two permanent, salaried employees of the theater are the Theater Manager and his assistant. And the Manager actually gets paid a percentage of performance revenue rather than straight salary. I'm pretty sure that's why the guy has been having hysterics. If the play doesn't go on he doesn't get paid. He'll get another percentage for writing the screen-play … or being one of the people that wrote the screen play … but again, only if the production takes place."

"Did we ever find out who the other writer was?"

Adam pulled up a picture on his phone and then handed to Mac. "Hawkes saw this in the prop room. Someone will roast if the manager finds out they just left that lying around. Because of the nature of the play everyone had to sign a very strict confidentiality clause, it was a condition of employment, and scripts only get pieced out and get locked up when not in use."

Mack looked at the script cover and then looked up at Adam. "Is this a pseudonym? Do we know who this Anna L. Pic is?"

"Boss, this is where things get weird."


End file.
